Compromise can be a great asset in discussions of pertinent ideas such as religion or politics. The history of the US has shown our people having a great ability to compromise in order to maintain order and proceed forward in an orderly manner. One can look at the politics of this nation and see where it has happened, but compromise is predicated on the ability and willingness of the two parties to reach a common middle ground. When that ceases to be possible confrontation can ensue. Such confrontation arose in 1860 over States Rights and Slavery and led to the American Civil War, and cost the US 620,000 dead.
We seem to be reaching a point where we are losing the ability to compromise between Left and Right, Democrat and Republican in the US. Now I am not proposing another Civil War could be in the making. I don’t know. I do see a disturbing tendency in society for both sides to talk at each other, but not talk to each other. There is no communication, only rhetoric, and the rhetoric has become more violent in its nature and disturbing. It has been more hideous with comments by liberal pundits Ed Shulz and Bill Maher, but even conservative Rush Limbaugh has made the mistakes of sinking to the level of the liberals.
We have lost the ability to find commonalities between our positions and work towards solutions. For example, in the late 1980’s when I was a college student I had friends who were liberals of the day. They were pro-choice and I was pro-life, but we could both agree that unwanted pregnancies needed to be reduced. We could agree that abortions were the worst possible form of birth-control, and that better methods should be desired. My friends who were pro-choice still wanted abortions available if desired and I did not, but I could also see that if unwanted pregnancies were reduced that the numbers of abortions would be dramatically reduced….the fewer abortions, the less outrage over the numbers of unborn babies killed, and the less of a tragedy there would be. If both sides worked together and we compromised perhaps in theory abortion would be on the books and used ocassionally, but the problem of 1.5 million abortions per year would also disappear. I don’t see discussions like my friends and I formerly having happening anymore.
This leads to the question of who is blame? In most human relationships both sides tend to be at fault to some degree. Perhaps in today’s world the conservatives are also at fault, but I don’t see it.
Essentially the modern Republican party and conservative movement have either stayed where they were or moved somewhat to the left. They haven’t become reactionary trying to eliminate all social spending. They haven’t tried to move the voting age back to twenty-one. They have actually supported more social spending and more health care “reform.” Many conservatives have supported measures to combat violence against homosexuals or homosexual unions, but marriage? The liberals, on the other hand, have moved towards a more and more Marxist position. The election of Barack Obama and his Marxist war on the upper class have driven the left beyond being left to being socialist. The modern democrats are no longer for democracy, but for statism or a form of facism. This is making compromise harder. It is harder to compromise when the other side keeps shifting further away and when they harden their rhetoric. It is harder to compromise when the sides lose the ability to respect and work with each other. It is harder to work together when the one side demands compromise from the other, but refuses to compromise themselves. This is what has happened between left and right in the US.
Where do we go? Who knows? Race wars? Civil Wars? Civil unrest?
Who knows…..