“It seems to have been reserved to the peopleof this country, by their conduct and example, to decide theimportant question, whether societies of men are really capable ornot of establishing good government from reflection and choice, orwhether they are forever destined to depend for their politicalconstitutions on accident and force.”
– Alexander Hamilton
“Every species of government has its specificprinciples. Ours are perhaps more peculiar than those of any other inthe universe.”
– Thomas Jefferson
As the coming election year looms large on the political calendar,it seems the threat of foreign terrorist strikes and collapsing peaceefforts in the Middle East will be eclipsed by a more subversive evil- a sinister danger that has already penetrated our borders andinfected the water supply. In 2004, the greatest threat to Americawill be other Americans.
Well, that’s the score, according to the vitriolic demagogues ofthe far-right and far-left camps. There is indeed a “new kind of war”afoot, but its campaigns and strategic strikes are not designed toroot out al-Qaeda cells, but instead to turn the country into aswirling mass of hatred and intolerance, from sea to shining partisansea. The kinetic energy of this hate-infused movement bypasses thepetty goal of progress in favor of total victory.
This sociological deterioration has gotten so bad that theextremists on both sides are now praying for catastrophe just to makethe other side look bad. Extreme leftists seem giddy when rattlingoff the latest numbers of troop casualties and unemployment rates,while extreme rightists try to strip away every last vestige of civilliberty guaranteed in the Constitution as a means of ending dissentonce and for all.
What happened? When did we decide a strong and vital politicalparty was more important than a strong and vital nation? When didcompromise become such an unpatriotic thing to do?
Our political system has devolved into a childish blame game inwhich the participants refuse to simply recognize problems and dealwith them. So can we, the silent majority, the collaterally damaged,caught in the crossfire of this cold civil war, accomplish what ouropportunistic representatives have failed to do in so many years?
First we must resolve the blame game: Every problem is everyone’sfault and we must work together to fix these problems. The centralproblem is not Medicare, national security or the environment; it isour polarized view of one another, which is the true culprit behindour inability to deal with these pressing issues. We must firstdebunk the “right vs. left” mythology.
The myth reads like this: The left consists solely oftree-hugging, communistic, elitist heathens – a bleeding-heartbourgeoisie held together by a loose alliance between environmentalfanatics, con men and powerful labor unions. On the other end of themythological spectrum is the right: violent, puritanical racists wholoathe sex, lust after capital and are hell-bent on defiling theearth’s environment whenever possible.
The results of operating within this paradigm have been painfullyobvious for some time; the people who benefit most from thissituation are the same who continue to perpetuate it – the ideologuesand demagogues who are united in their efforts to sustain thestalemate of status quo.
To dream of compromise seems foolishly idealistic, but no law ofnecessity demand it be so. There is no universal rule that saysbusinessmen and environmentalists must hate one another. Yet bothgroups will continue to do so indefinitely until they learn to listento each other. The leftists need to recognize that people must workand earn a living, that a healthy economy benefits everyone; therightists need to concede that business interests cannot always takeprecedence over health concerns and environmental safety.
Another necessary compromise, and a more difficult one, is theplace of religion in politics. Here the burden is more on the right.America is a very spiritual nation, but the religious right mustcease its attempts to use the lawmaking process as a platform foradvancing its own moral codes. The Constitution is quite clear on theissue of separating church and state. Those within the religiousright should realize their own ability to pray and worship as theysee fit is best protected by a government that refrains from policiesthat place the values of one particular religion over the right tofreedom of expression and freedom of – as well as freedom from -religion.
The upcoming election does not offer much hope for these kinds ofcompromises. Both parties have chosen the most uncompromising andopportunistic representatives to manipulate the public interest,confident that self-righteous infighting will continue to distractthe masses from the ridiculousness of their situation.
Our only hope is to take to heart the warning Enlightenmentphilosopher Denis Diderot put forth in the introduction to hisEncyclopedia: “These are narrow minds, deformed souls, who areindifferent to the fate of the human race and who are so enclosed intheir little group that they see nothing beyond its special interest.These men insist on being called good citizens, and I consent tothis, provided that they permit me to call them bad men.”
Beware, America, of the tyranny of the good citizen.
– Jamey Bainer is an English senior.
– This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of TheDaily Aztec. Send e-mail to letters@thedailyaztec.com.Anonymous letters will not be printed – include your full name, majorand year in school.
