FINDING A MEDIATOR?

How I came to the politics I feel comfortable with these days is a mystery.  Growing up in a very conservative town and idolizing an older high school athlete whose family was staunchly Republican, somehow I've come round to 'all we are saying, is give peace a chance.' His logic still astounds me and his analogies, which may make perfect sense to him turn on what I see as 'false premises.'  Any time you debate on a premise that is only partially true or just plain false, you may think you've proved your point, but you really have not.

The recent debacle of the president seeming to side with the president of Russia, then, trying to explain and further muddying the waters, and, now, a recent Time Magazine cover that morphs the Russian and the president is chilling. 

I'd really like to find a way to communicate with 'them'.. the folks who still, in the face of all this 'stuff' going on and see if there might be some middle ground where name calling and limbic reactions might back off and we might find some accord.

For instance: I think that the president's son, Barron, must be a nice kid.  He's out of the public eye mostly, but there we are.  A nice boy, who, like it or not, is in the middle of some of this. We don't ridicule him.  The FLOTUS seems to be making an effort to be a good first lady with her public appearances.  There must be something we may create where the Right and the Left can agree that there is something that's basically okay? 
That I can't think of something is on me.

Paula Foster Chambers is a highly intelligent friend whom I know from the Renaissance Faire days.  A successful business woman and a really nice lady, she has thoughtfully written this essay that we should all take to heart.  

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"I think we are nearing a point, as a nation, when we have to decide what kind of a nation we want to be. Those who elected Trump have one vision for how they want things to be, and people like me have a completely different vision. I don’t know how on earth we are going to choose, because the country is divided and a sizeable number of Americans will be massively unhappy no matter which is chosen. However, a couple things give me hope.

1) We aren’t as divided as one might think. Russia has meddled with our social media to widen our divisions and, importantly, sow the *perception* that we are hopelessly divided, but we were headed in the right direction before all this went down. Sure there were racists, authoritarians and others who actually wanted the USA to be more like it is now, but they were in the minority, and demographically speaking, they were going the way of the dodo. I STILL think they are going the way of the dodo.

2) It is possible for a country to make a collective commitment to being a certain way, even when not 100% of the population agrees. My travels have convinced me of this. The social protections in place in France, for example, are working and are clearly possible when a high majority wants them. Most recently, I visited the Czech Republic and learned how communism took hold there and then was shaken off by the people in 1989 in what is now called the Velvet Revolution.
We HAVE the power to choose, as a country, what kind of country we want to be."

I agree with Paula and hope that intelligent and thoughtful folks from all sides of the aisle and across our  divided nation will remember that what Lincoln said is even more true today. "A House divided against itself cannot stand." 

There must be a middle of the road mediator who may create an atmosphere of cooperation that we can build on. Suggestions? Whom could the Powers That Be respect enough to allow him/her to mediate a truce? Is there a person out of politics directly who would be respected by everyone? Seriously..  All the folks I can think of lean to the Left.  

I'm reading a book by Michael Pollan called "How to Change Your Mind." There may be answers there.  It would be a radical move! VERY!
michaelsheehan