Is it within our grasp as Americans, as humans, to properly discuss the hard topics, or are we doomed to tribalism and irrational behaviors?

The issues we live with today are not simple, like this chart above about the war in Afghanistan.

There are no effective, good shoot-from-the-hip answers or actions to solve the truly difficult challenges of 2018 and the future of the world.

To start we need to recognize the world has shrunk and our global neighbors are people we MUST take into consideration when thinking through and planning responses to challenges.  There are no narrow national issues/challenges in 2018, not really.  Everything is connected, symbiotic, synergistic

Look at these issues and challenges.  >300M guns, schools aren't safe, so adding more seems insane. but w/Tweety acting like an aspiring dictator, it's not crazy. but nra puppets should stop bullying parkland teens to avoid discussing school killing solutions! Drug dealing = death penalty? killing dealers will not stop drugs, or save anyone. real democracy ENDs electoral college, limits campaigns to $1m tax dollars & max six (6) months, end legal voter fraud by ending gerrymandering.

Wars are dumb unless in self-defense.  There are just too many alternatives situations that look like they could lead to war, two being diplomacy and compassion.