There is an ideological divide in our country. That within itself is not a problem nor is that strange. In fact this divide has and can be used to prevent any particular ideology from damage that can occur when any ideology is taken to its most pure form. As an example, an extreme liberal may believe in full reparations for the aggrieved in this country. A conservative pull would sometimes rightfully take exception to this under the pretext that the mere expectation of reparations may make the aggrieved put in less work in order to strive. The two ideologies knocking heads ultimately come to a resolution that is generally better (e.g., instead of reparation we get affirmative action).
In order for good decisions to be made however requires that all sides are honest about their beliefs. Most importantly the belief must be logical and not arbitrary. Absent this, consensus cannot be reached because the changing of facts and principles means a resolution cannot be built on a sound unchanging foundation.
Our current political gridlock is a result of ideologies that are not logical but arbitrary. While arguably both sides of our political spectrum display ideological inconsistencies, in the last few years the inconsistency of the Right has proved a detriment to our economy and our country’s social harmony.
Liberals prefer a larger government with more regulations on businesses to ensure that it is “we the people” and not “we the shareholders” that ultimately decides environmental policies, worker policies, healthcare policies, food safety policies, etc. Conservatives prefer much less government with the above policies either non-existent or left to the devices of the market. Neither of these positions is wrong. Americans must decide which policies they want through the ballot box.
The problem is that the decision at the ballot box is corrupted by a mainstream media that allow politicians to spew mutually exclusive positions without any pushback. This is likely because our mainstream press is a press by the shareholder and not by the people and thus dependent on a revenue stream from those ultimately controlling the message and the misinforming politician. If we had a functional mainstream media they would tell politicians you cannot have it both ways.
You cannot believe in humanity, morality, and small nonintrusive government at the same time you force a woman to have a sonogram, you support a large military many times the size of you largest adversary, you support corporate welfare to major corporations, you deny needed social welfare & healthcare citizens, you support a fiscal policy that provably create wealth and income disparity, and you support forcing states to deny same sex marriage. They are mutually exclusive.
You cannot call for balancing the budget at the same time you want to provide ever increasing tax cuts to the wealthy even as we are living under the results of those policies which lead to a deteriorating infrastructure and a failing middle class. You cannot be government of and for the people if a corporation has more inherent rights than the individual.
You cannot have it both ways.
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My Book: As I See It: Class Warfare The Only Resort To Right Wing Doom Hardcopy: http://amzn.to/dt72c7 Kindle: http://amzn.to/lUFQCV iPad/iTunes: http://bit.ly/qB88Lk Twitter: http://twitter.com/egbertowillies |
