OK everyone,
This, from your friendly local Political Scientist:
Politics is about the attainment and application of power at the governmental level.
You have this continuum, see?
Left Right
- - - - - - - - - -center- - - - - - - - - -
Extreme left tends toward centralized committee control of property and human development, but also strives to protect all people socially, medically, and economically. Individual initiative can suffer. Governmental plans dictate just about everything.
Extreme right tends toward private ownership of virtually every aspect of life, including education, arts, and many services that government has traditionally assumed over the years. Individual achievement is indeed celebrated, but often at the cost of others, as scarce resources are scarfed up by the swiftest in the race. Small government is the ideal, but all too often, to insure these ideals, they too often end up with governmental plans that dictate just about everything too.
The 20th century, to a great extent, has reflected a struggle between the extremes of these positions, often at the the cost of millions of lives.
Both groups, at their extremes, would similarly exclude other ideas from the discussion table.
Disagree with the Far Left? Then, it was off to the camps with you.
Disagree with the Far Right? Then, there were still other camps waiting for you too.
America has a tradition of pragmatism, and that's why, until fairly recently, neither mainstream Democrats or Rebublicans reflected the extremes of the political model. The last thirty years have brought some of the extreme people in both parties to the surface, however, and therein lies the difficulties that you see at all levels of American political process today.
Years ago, there were many who tried to keep the extremes away from the American discussion. Civility ruled; at least on the surface. Below the surface was quite another matter. One of my parents came from the South, and the other, the North. About 150 years ago, our country had this type of oil-and-water discussion, and that turned friend against friend, and neighbor against neighbor, and at least some of the rancor of that conflict continues to this day (except in the case of my mother and father, of course!)
Even now historians disagree as to whether that conflict should be called "The Civil War" or "The War Between the States".
Coming as a rather personal result of the unity of that historic division,
I suppose that I've always tried to work for conflict resolution; not only with others, but within my own heart as well.
In my life, I have tried to never place agendas, or political thought, above people. People come first in my book. Who among us agrees with all of our family members? All of our political party's positions? All of our co-religionists, or lack therof?
In 1945, two atomic bombs ended the academic discussions of doctrinaire politics, religion, or doctrinaire anything else, for that matter.
We either all have to learn to get along, or we all may die.
We either all listen to the banjo, and sing kumbayah, or we all may die.
Now you know why I play the banjo...
Now, let's sing.
