I voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 election instead of voting for the ticket of McCain and Palin. 

At the time, I did not understand the division and caustic nature of the upcoming 2012 election. My guess is that neither did you. The economic disaster that was 2007-2008 had not yet been thoroughly investigated and the nation had not seen the gridlock of partisan politics to the degree that the early 2010 deficit talks and subsequent supercommittee debacle produced. I was also particularly unprepared for the rather pointed, sometimes hateful, rhetoric that would flow from the more conservative ranks about the President of the United States. Let’s, though, move closer to home.

I have had relatives, Christian co-workers, and social conservatives question my faith, question whether I believe the Bible to be relevant, and question my intellect for the past few years.

Republicans seem to have no cohesive narrative and this seems obvious. Democrats are losing their cohesive narrative and again, this is almost a no-brainer. To anyone who is watching the news or paying attention to the rhetoric floating over the internet and across television screens, it’s rather difficult to understand what narrative thread will actually unify our country. Let me suggest that it’s because the new narrative thread isn’t one of unity, but one of division.

We must pause, though, prior to jumping into the 21^st century to consider the unifying narratives that have characterized our country and in fact, these narratives have come to form the core values of the United States. We pause to review the overarching stories, not for nostalgia’s sake, but because in a real sense, we’re in danger of losing them.

In an extraordinary development on sunny Capitol Hill this week, conservative Republicans nominated a used Dell Laptop computer as an alternative to President Obama’s nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. While the concerned Congressmen are not technically allowed to name nominations to the Supreme Court, Republicans cited Dick Cheney’s role as Vice President as a precedent for unprecedented Capitol Hill behavior.

According to the nominators, the Dell Laptop is appropriately devoid of feelings and empathy, two newly developed Republican disqualifications for the role of Supreme Court Justice. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, is looking for decisions free of “feelings or personal or political preferences” and found that the Dell Laptop was well qualified. “The only comparable potential nominee who fit our profile was Mr. Spock, but after a tireless search, it was determined that he does not actually exist.”