Joe Biden is not helping the political divide

We talk often about the polarization in this country but increasingly it's not polarization, it's downright hatred.

It's beyond dispute that we have reached a cultural and political crossroad where civil discourse and compromise have been abandoned.

The left's outright hatred for conservative views is an ever-present item on the liberal menu, so much so that our vision for America is divided almost evenly on virtually any issue up for discussion.

We've passed the point of determining the blame for this divide. It honestly doesn't matter. What truly matters is our growing lack of civility and the inflammatory rhetoric that turns disagreement into outright hostility.

Crazy Uncle Joe Biden sat down Sunday with race-baiting, tax-dodging charlatan Al Sharpton to opine on the evils of the Republican party.

That conversation alone should have you puzzled why Sharpton still has a platform to regurgitate his brand of racist conspiracy.

And yet he does.

Biden -- who still longs for the White House and may well be the default Democratic presidential nominee in 2020 -- used the occasion to drive a wedge deeper into a divided nation.

"These Republicans don't want working-class people voting. They don't want black folks voting," Uncle Joe said.

Poor Joe has forgotten the working-class voters in Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania who pushed President Trump to the White House.

But it's hard to keep count of all the things Uncle Joe has conveniently forgotten.

Joe continued his rant with all of the worn liberal talking points -- the need for felons to vote, the need for automatic voter registration and the myth of voter suppression of minorities.

The former Vice President wasn't through. And his position which mirrors the liberal agenda is exactly why this growing divide is dangerous.

Biden blasted the 24 states who have implemented voting requirements to assure an honest and accurate election process.

He said those states are attempting to curtail the franchise of voting by requiring voter identification.

And he couldn't be more wrong.

What Republicans view as voter integrity, Biden and the liberal cabal see as voter suppression.

The dangerous aspect of the liberal agenda is the racist, inflammatory and divisive rhetoric.

Biden has been a part of the American political landscape for his entire life. He has broken bread and socialized and worked hand-in-hand with countless Republicans throughout that storied career.

And yet despite that long-standing cordial working relationship, he says that all Republicans don't want "black folks" to vote.

It's that exact language that divides this nation and makes compromise impossible.

Joe Biden apparently has no shame. If he did, for starters, he would not share a microphone with Al Sharpton.

Michael Jensen is the publisher of the Standard Democrat in Sikeston, Missouri.