I'm not sure the 'values' Venn diagrams intersect any more

It has been a conviction of mine that despite all of the conflict the values of left and right America were fundamentally the same. We all valued fair dealing, truthfulness, honesty, all wanted to help the poor and the sick, all wanted to avoid war and minimize violence and cruelty.  Where we differed was in the means to these ends.  But I'm not so sure anymore.  For three reasons:

1. Campus Sexual Assault - there have been a number of high profile hoaxes recently but rather than condemn the hoaxers parts of the left have said the truth doesn't matter.

The President of UVA overreacted, believed the worst about her own students and shut down the Greek community of thousands.  Now that the rape has been exposed as all or mostly made up, she refuses to apologize saying:   “Over the past two weeks, our community has been more focused than ever on one of the most difficult and critical issues facing higher education today: sexual violence on college campuses. Today’s news must not alter this focus.” I would say no, sexual violence isn't the most difficult issue:  the bias, lack of honesty and abuse of power by those that run UVA that is the biggest issue.

But it's much worse:  many, many prominent women have said things like this:  As the fact-checking comes in, Jessica Valenti’s response is to declare, “I trust women,” and then go on to blame Rolling Stone for “throwing this young woman under the bus.” Amanda Marcotte blames the collapse of the story on “rape apologists” who “think that if they can ‘discredit’ one rape story, that means no other rape stories can be true, either”—a position held, so far as anyone can tell, by no one. But feminist blogger Melissa McEwan gets the top prize for this M.C. Escher drawing of a thought: “I can’t state this more emphatically: If Jackie’s story is partially or wholly untrue, it doesn’t validate the reasons for disbelieving her.”  Or this one:  Assertions of injustice by young men are infuriating to some. Caroline Heldman, an associate professor of politics at Occidental College and co-founder of End Rape on Campus, said of the men who are turning to the courts, “These lawsuits are an incredible display of entitlement, the same entitlement that drove them to rape.

A few feminists have issued a prompt and unreserved apology. The rest are going down with this ship.

2. Immigration amnesty.  The President, contradicting over 20 public statements he has made over the years is asserting the right to give an 'amnesty' to 5 million illegals based upon his 'enforcement' authority.  This is a fundamental restructuring of our Constitutional understanding of Executive Power and a massive usurpation of Congress.  

3. The relentless and very common assertion among elites that conservatives and Republicans are racist, homophobic and warring on women. It's incomprehensible to me that one could prejudge a hundred million men and women and define them as essentially evil for disagreeing with you. Now I realize that there are Conservatives who do the same thing but the "War on Women" was the Democrat's main campaign theme in the last two elections.  A campaign that essentially argued that Republicans and conservatives were sexists who hate women.  Even the 45% of them who are women.  There is nothing comparable coming from the right.  Nothing.

Meanwhile Ayan Hirsi Ali who is fighting a real 'war against women' in the Islamic world is not welcome on most college campuses who are so obsessed with the "war on women".  Why?  She's not of the tribe.

The bottom line is this:  If we can't agree that the truth is essential, that following the rules of the game is important and that all of us across the ideological spectrum are generally people of goodwill trying to work out the right path as best we can then we might as well hang this Republic up.  Because without those three things all you have left is  raw power.  And eventually violence.