Have you ever had one of those discussions with someone and come to realize halfway through the conversation that you are just not on the same planet with where they are coming from? Perception is everything and any large group of people are just not going to agree. We all see things our own way. We value different things. Being able to act on our beliefs is what is known as freedom. Regarding politics in America we see this divergence during every election.
Briefly stated, approximately 40% of the vote typically goes to Republicans. Approximately 40% typically goes to the Democrats, leaving 20% for the establishment parties to quibble over. Regardless which of these two parties lose, the acrimony is palatable. This gets expressed with statements like, “We just need to get along.” We hear people say, “I don’t like all the arguing.” Pundits tell us that one party or anther needs to court the so-called undecided.
Lets be honest, the truth is that there are two Americans with wildly divergent world views. We want to think of ourselves as one nation; indivisible with freedom and justice for all, but this characterization is a fiction. Yes, we all share the same history and culture in a general sense, but we haven’t been “one nation” in a very long time, but I digress. I’ve written on the two American cultures before, but today I am more interested in talking about the underlying principles behind our two cultures.
What if the key to our politics is not whether one is conservative or liberal, but is about how they perceive topics in their daily lives? While I do think there are selfish and even evil people out there, I also think that most of us want the best for people. The rub comes in how we consume and process news about our world. Our two American cultures differ greatly on how to achieve the most good for the most people. In other words, who decides what is best, depends on trust and how one group or another sees the world. Progressives assume that if you do not hold certain beliefs there is no discussion to be had. In fairness, Fundamentalist Christians hold the same view differing only in what they judge to be appropriate. In both cases, progressives in both parties are more than happy to use government power to force their view on everyone. My point of view is that this is a fool’s errand. The real answer to achieve the best good is not compromise or attempting to destroy one side or another, but to live and let live. The founders knew this when they created system of Federalism.
As an example, a story on the Blaze yesterday talked about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo stating that so-called “extreme conservatives” have no place living in New York. What does that mean? His speech noted that “extreme conservatives” are not who New Yorkers are.
Seriously? There are a little over nineteen million people in the state of New York according to the census with approximately half of those in New York City. Does he really expect me to believe that conservative New Yorkers somehow don’t belong there? Just ten percent of that number is almost two million people. According to the NYS Board of Elections the Republicans got just under 36% of the vote. In other words approximately two and a half million New Yorkers voted for Mr. Romney. Obviously, many of these people are not what Gov Cuomo would call “extreme conservatives”. On the other hand, how many so-called “extreme conservatives” didn’t bother to vote in such a fascist environment? If one were to multiply nineteen million by 36% they would find that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of six-point-eight million Americans in the state of New York who to one extent or another are relatively conservative. If say half of that number are so-called “extreme conservatives” that would be like three and a half million Americans that Governor Cuomo says should leave the state. Can you imagine that headline on the news? Mass Exodus of Political Dissidents from New York State!
Progressive establishment politicians in both parties seem to be desperate to make hay out of the fact that there is a full-on battle going on in between Republicans who support limited constitutional government and have respect for the Bill of Rights and progressive Republicans who have an authoritarian point of view, who, like the Democrats embrace borrowing money to force Americans to live as they would have us live. The truth is this argument is about power and who gets to control our lives and our money.
The Governor asks: “Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay?” Is that who they are? Because if that’s who they are and if they are the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”
He and people like him assume too much. They assume that if a person holds one view that they disagree with they must hold all of the views they disagree with. They assume that there is no valid argument that could possibly be made for any point other than theirs. That is why progressives preach tolerance but mean that others are free to believe whatever they wish, as long as those beliefs coincide with the progressive point of view. In other words, we are all free to agree with them or else.
As a lesbian who happens to believe it is immoral to murder children in the womb, and who believe it is my God given right to bear arms to defend my life and my freedom, I qualify for two out of three of his attributes of what an extreme conservative is. No doubt, I am not welcome in the State of New York.
My take-away today is this. The founders knew that the country would have divisions. They designed a system designed around sovereign states who share power with a sovereign federal government. If things today functioned as they were designed we would have a limited federal government. It would only be responsible for the common defense, a robust transportation network, and a very few items that could be agreed to by everyone as being for the “common good.”
All of the social welfare and regulatory laws should reside in the states. If the United States functioned as it was designed, today we would have fifty choices of what level of progressive intervention by government with which we whished to live. If one wanted a cradle to grave welfare state one could move to California or New York. If one wanted individual responsibility one would likely live in Texas. We could live and let live. No need to compromise one’s basic principles and no need worry of being pushed into a conflict because one side or another can not tolerate their rights being violated. The United States is a nation of over three-hundred-million people. A nation split into two camps, each trying to force its will on the other will never result in anything but anger and distrust in the best of circumstances and an outright tragedy in the worst of circumstances. My novel, Phoenix Republic depicts what a disaster like this might be like. Lets pray we don’t find out.
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