Is this the Beginning of the End for our Democracy?

This is my first blog posting and a fairly heady topic.  I just stumbled upon this thought over the past few days while listening to all of the furor over the President's plan to speak to school children across America.  I started thinking about how a simple idea of addressing our children has so many people in America upset.  This isn't even the first time a sitting President has had an address specifically to the school children of America.  Presidents George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan also spoke to our children.

What have we come to?  Are we so distrustful of a government that was elected by the majority of our citizens?  In this country we have had a working democracy for sometime now.  In a democracy, while our preferred candidate may not win or currently hold office, we should still typically respect the choice of the majority.  This doesn't mean we can't challenge the winning candidate, but also it doesn't mean we should hate and try to destroy that person.

I hear so much hate in the tone and words people use today to describe their opposition (democrats and republicans, both).  Where is the day when we could debate issues in a civil manner?  When we could discuss the issues on the merits of their points and not resort to labeling the individuals  with the ideas as radicals, unpatriotic, socialist, fascists, war mongers, etc.  Sure these people may have different views, but can't we engage in a true debate?  Isn't that what a democracy demands of us? Do we really believe that these individuals want to destroy our country?  Or do they just have a different view of the future than some of us have today?  Don't we believe that the persons involved in our political system today have what they believe as the best roadmap to our country's future in their hearts?  Yes, we may disagree, but a democracy demands that we voice our opinions and engage in vigorous debate.  It doesn't demand that we hate and try to destroy our fellow citizens.

Is this what the end of democracy looks like?  Will we all go to our own ideological corners and demand that we have our own little slice of America to call our own?  Or will we find a way to come together and respect the different viewpoints and collectively chart a way to a better future?

I certainly hope we will find a way to survive as an intact nation.  We are so much stronger as a whole than fractured and split.

Please feel free to share your thoughts.