Twenty-three years ago, I held a one-way ticket in my hand and had my mind set to make a life on the Northwest coast of the United States. Bill Clinton was still president, but impeachment hearings the year before had poisoned the political landscape. I tried to keep up with current politics, not an easy feat in a new country with a new language. Early on, I realized, this will impact our personal future in America. Visa status, Green Card, and after 10 years finally Citizenship caused many emotional ups and downs as the political scene has become toxic towards immigrants.

The last 8 years of tumultuous events are just a culmination of the underlying problems of our 2-party system in our democratic Constitutional Republic. Especially since the 45^th presidential election, the Red-Blue divide has opened into an abyss.

It’s maddening to me to watch media heating up the scene ever more, because “Blood & Gore” sells well on screens. The closed echo chambers of social media only reinforce already set opinions, BOTs and trolls manipulate in multitudes of new ways.

How can we fix this? How can we bring people together and restore the sense of the common good in moving together? Life isn’t just Black & White, – or Red & Blue.

I’m longing for more purple.  

Blue with RED-purple. Red with BLUE-purple, and every shade of it within.