When the very idea of civic trust seems lost

I see that a bill requiring owners to report a lost or stolen gun to authorities within five days of the loss/theft is going to soon pass the Colorado legislature and likely become law. This seems like a no-brainer to me, much as mandating that a person who wants to own or carry a gun should have some sort of training or license, like a drivers license. 

I also see that zero Republicans voted for the House version of the gun theft bill. This also, unfortunately, is a no-brainer, or at least entirely predictable.

The primary objection is that the government would then need to keep track of who owns guns, or at least some of them. I'm not certain how such a law works if the government does not know anything about who owns guns and how many PRIOR to a theft or someone just misplacing a gun. So I guess I understand some of the discussion and opposition on the pragmatic level.

But American politics have now sorted us in to two basic camps: one has faith in government (assuming good intent, though no one should be naïve about government always functioning perfectly) and one has little faith in government and assumes bad intent or negligence.

Sometimes the party positions can reverse, which is frustrating but entertaining in a macabre way. 

At this point, neither major political party can get by a lack of trust in one another. We are stuck in a never-ending "ad hominem" rhetorical fallacy in which merely identifying as subscribing to a political party means you are suspect. More than that: you are now fair game for attacks.

I know politicians have behaved like this in the past quite often. The difference now is that a large percentage of citizens have adopted this same "us vs. them" approach. 

But there are occasional glimmers of hope and even agreement, as in polls showing that a large majority of Americans approved of the Biden rescue plan, despite universal opposition by Republicans. 

Actively hating a few neighbors is exhausting and actively hating huge groups of people even more so. 

I became a bit weary of actively hating Donald Trump, for instance, though if pressed I would say I still do. But the reality is that what I really enjoy is the absence of Donald Trump. 

I value a bit of calm and opportunities to enjoy spring and baseball and surprising TV shows and so much more. I know I can't hide from the world forever -- the world has a way of seeking us all out.

But I CAN choose not to seek out conflict that has little to do with me.