I’m watching the political landscape descend into what many consider a very dangerous place.
The economy is strong by all objective measures. Our borders are solid and functioning again, and, according to polling, most people are pleased with the enforcement actions being taken by those charged with immigration issues. Unemployment is down by traditional measures, as is inflation.
In many ways, I’m good with what’s happening short term, but my concern is for the long term.
I’m worried about what we are leaving to my grandchildren, bearing in mind that that might be you or your children, too. It does not seem like we are in an immediate crisis, but even the casual observer sees significant foundational cracks that will be a problem if they are not addressed.
These underlying cultural currents are tough to measure objectively, and even more difficult to subjectively. But they are there, and we see them clearly with the rhetoric coming out of the extremes of both parties.
Conventional wisdom is that there is the Left and the Right, but I see it as a circular magnet. The extremes occupy an area of force near a very narrow gap where the magnet is purposely incomplete, and the lines of force are strongest. Those polar ends of the magnet, which represent a fraction of its total shape, can’t exist without the largest part of the circle.
Bear in mind that the extremes can’t exist without those of us in the middle enabling them. We, the moderates, are enabling the extremes by not providing defined boundaries. Most of us reside somewhere along the largest portion of this circular magnet and are nowhere near the polar ends.
I’m using a circular magnet metaphor because both the extreme Left and the extreme Right are
polar opposites, but they are employing exactly the same tactics. Those lines of force can be charged one way, or the other.
We are exposed to non-stop distortions of reality - extreme disagreements that are framed in such a way that finding common ground is actively discouraged. No dialogue, no discussion. Just vitriol and hate, with no solution in sight.
Right now, the words DO matter, as do the emotions that are attached to them. There is a man who occupies the inverse of my political position. He’s a liberal, while I’m a conservative. He believes in Keynesian Economics; I’m firmly in the Hayek camp. We both believe in the United States and all that it stands for.
And we want to craft a better country. We both believe that the extremes are not to be trusted.
We recognize that neither of us should get our way. Whatever happens needs to be guided by compromise. Neither of us are fans of governance by executive action. It’s inherently polarizing and easily undone by subsequent administrations.
But what we agree upon is the fundamental dis-service that is being done to our country, and to our state of West Virginia. It’s like the two parties are having the worst divorce ever, and their offspring (our state and this country) are getting the short brown end of the stick.
The husband and wife won’t talk, but they won’t talk to the kids either, and the kids are running amok. The alleged adults have left the room. They are screaming at each other all the things that, those of us in long-term relationships know, are sure-fire ways to permanently destroy a relationship in a way that can’t be fixed.
Things like saying “never”. You never. That’s a fundamental untruth and everyone knows it.
Want to light up your partner (or the other side). Just pick something that annoys you and say “you never”, or its evil twin, “you always”. It’s a super way to start an argument that will never end. It’s wrong with the added edge of being hurtful.
Let’s add some generalizations to this dumpster fire - “everyone hates it”. Who exactly are you talking about, and what do they hate? Toss in some exaggeration for good measure, usually couched with terms like “the worst in the past 40 years”, or my personal favorite “people will die”.
The worst by what measure, and exactly who is going to die, and how? Precision counts.
And my favorite extraction, “Everyone knows this to be true.” But, just maybe, we don’t.
West Virginia is lopsided right now, with the Republicans in extreme control. There is a battle royale occurring for the heart and soul of the party and by extension, the state. Most want the traditional conservative values of thrift and limited government, but the extreme wants what they want, no matter how much it conflicts with what being a Republican means. Those who flagrantly use the term RINO prove themselves to be the least Republican of all.
The Democrats have so few effective voices that they have reduced themselves to irrelevance.
Federally, the margins are much narrower, but it’s the same extreme positions, with each party neutering their centrist voices. The libertarians are nowhere to be found, and have yet to find a voice, and are stuck on their own spiking extremes.
Nothing is going to be decided by either unreasonable position, but the likely outcome will be panned by the majority, and that will be when the extremes pick up weapons and we head to an unnecessary internal conflict.
Politics has always been a messy business, and likely always will be. The difference is in the past we had a functioning constitutional republic, even when we were shooting each other over philosophical and economic issues a little more than 160 years ago.
We have reduced our political discourse to who’s bringing what bacon home to whom, and what programs are being lavishly funded. We need to get back to the larger issues of what kind of government we are going to have, and away from the non-stop handouts and deficit spending to curry favor. All of it means we need to get back to having intelligent discourse.
There is a Zen phrase “First, enlightenment. Then, do the laundry”. Our political discourse is not an end. It is a continuous journey where we need to engage with life realities while we strive for continual improvement, all the while continuing in our daily activities.
It’s time to roll up our sleeves and get that discourse done - even if the extremes try to block us, as we know they will. It’s not going to be easy. It will be painful.
The longer we let the dirty laundry lie, the more it’s going to stink.
Then, do the laundry.
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