North American politics has arrived at a major cross street and the traffic lights are not working. While realism says to come to a full stop and proceed with caution, it is only the foolhardy and the brave who can make their way through the intersection. There are many collisions and fatalities.
The word is that the political left have been left out in the sun too long. The political right are the ones telling us that social conservatism is just common sense. And the milk of human kindness has soured. Nobody has time for reason or liberalism.
The perception is that the political left is run by an academic elite, divorced from the realities of the hard-scrabble living of today. The right is conversely supposed to be a business elite that covenants with and supports the one per cent. And that leaves the rest of us in what can only be called the mass muddled middle.
And it is open season on liberals. They are believed to be those tax-and-spend blowhards who have never met a problem they were not willing to generously use other people’s money to solve.
Meanwhile the conservatives are the mean-spirited bastards who think charity can resolve the social ills of our time. They want small government, little taxes, big police, bigger prisons and large workhouses for the indolent. They want to free business to do what they think business does best. While they think business will create jobs, it is really best at getting more profit from customers.
Conservatives see business as self interest while liberals see it as a possible partnership in the interest of society. Conservatives have meanwhile joined forces with the hard-line religious right by promising to enforce capital punishment and to stop abortions. They endorse the gun lobbies and pander to the old country causes of our newer citizens. They constantly seek out and support the right wing causes of the angry and their Not-In-My-Back-Yard causes.
The right builds walls of hatred against those who seek to live in peace and harmony. The right is anti-gay, anti same-sex marriage, anti anything that is not in harmony with their rigid conformist views of the world around them. They see the enemy in the liberal left that seeks to build an inclusive society. They are wary of progress, challenged by change, fear freedom and face a rising revolt in their own youth who cannot buy into their cant.
Ideology is not what our youth seek. They want to experiment, to experience, to enjoy the freedoms possible in an enriched society. They want to build a better society but need role models and opportunities.
The liberal left tries to build harmony and acceptance for all. It is difficult.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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