Those who disagree with you are no less human than you – despite what you are being told. Ridicule and insult are the weapons of fear and hate and the tools of the established elite.
It is difficult, but not impossible, to discern the underlying ideologies embraced by those around us. Careful reading and listening reveals that the vast majorities of American have core beliefs that are not that far apart. The vast majority cherish the concepts of liberty, opportunity, and justice for all. A primary differentiator between factions revolves around the role of the federal government in realizing those concepts.
Most people agree that unbridled capitalism is troublesome. Most also agree that authoritarian government is equally troubling, and both are troubling for the same reason. There are rascals in the world.
Absolute laissez-faire amounts to anarchy and as we move in that direction, we see the rise of rascals in the form of Robber Barons and the like – not good. Absolute authoritarian government amounts to totalitarianism and as we move in that direction, we see the rise of rascals in the form of Fascism and the like – also not good. What has worked best is a balance whereby private enterprise is reasonably governed and whereby government is held in check.
In an attempt to mitigate the impact of rascals on the federal government the United States was formed around the concept of three branches of government, one to make the laws, one to execute the laws and one to validate that the laws abide by the principles upon which the government was constituted. Over time that balance of power has been thwarted by rascals in congress that grossly interferes with the executor, by rascal executors who uses executive orders to essentially create laws and by rascal judges who use the bench to make and enforce their own set of laws.
This has been allowed to happen because we the people have allowed ourselves to be manipulated in to voting based not on real ideology but fear and hate. There is an established elite that benefits greatly as a result of duping the crowd. And this takes no conspiracy, it is just rascals doing what comes naturally – building power and keeping it.
Meanwhile, it has become almost impossible to have a conversation about true issues. Most often those who would have such a conversation begin by sizing up which side of the fear-hate chasm the others adhere. Then the conversation devolves into the destruction of the strawman facsimiles which each side has been manipulated into believing the “other” supports. There is generally just enough truth in the predefined strawman facsimiles we have been supplied to wrangle up an argument and tempers. Then out of fear and hate, we vote for the rascal on our side in order to defeat the rascals on the other side.
Sound familiar?
The cost of such folly is high. Our federal government has become much of what it was designed to avoid. Intrusive, overbearing, indifferent to the plight of the working man and insensitive to the downtrodden.
So, let’s take the time and make an effort to afford to others the respect human beings deserve.
How about we try talking – and listening.