Democracy in Failure

Recently read this:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gcjZtRmovjWgMk7ejIoMmap6aN-AD9EL64EO0

It may be cliched but:
"We are not enemies, but friends.  We must not be enemies.  Though passion may have strained, it must not break the bonds of our affection.  The mystic cords of memory stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land will yet swell the chorus of the union when again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature."
-Abraham Lincoln

The cost of our political opinions must not outweigh the gains. We must not tear ourselves apart to make a point.