The View From the Fence

 Americans are basically divided into two groups. The first group sees the world changing for the better. We call these people Progressives. They tend to be naive and hopeful. They view the ever-changing cultural norms with equanimity. They see possibilities, they regard 'having fun' as a worthwhile goal. Fundamentally, they believe that things will work-out if we just try to get-along and treat each other decently. They feel superior to the other group because they are driven by compassion to share the wealth (especially the wealth of the rich fat cats) with less-fortunate souls. They regard human laziness and stupidity as an unfortunate result of a bad dice roll. By contrast, if one is lucky enough to be born good looking , healthy and smart enough to take advantage of opportunity, you must always keep in mind that you were not entitled to it; you were given a break and you must pay it forward.

The second group - the ones we call Conservatives - are a grumpy bunch of stick-in-the-muds. They spend their workdays trying to get ahead. Then they stay awake at night afraid of slippery slopes and camels' noses in tents. Conservatives always see the negative aspect of anything that smacks of change. They love traditions and old authoritative books and parchments. They think everything worth knowing was already known by the Founding Fathers; new fads and ideas are regarded with suspicion and skepticism. They don't see the point in having fun, because foreigners hate us and our way of life -- thus we need to stay on guard constantly.  Fun is for the weak minded Progressive sheep.  The central issue for Conservatives is the role of government.  They are convinced that all Progressives want a "Nanny State" where the Feds control every aspect of citizens' lives.   They see most taxation as stealing money from hard working people and giving it to ignorant slackers. They feel they are entitled to what they have, and hard cheese if you were born into the servant class, but that's the way it goes. Conservatives think they are superior to the other group because they are driven by their heads instead of their hearts.


Normally, I think of myself as a fence-sitter between the two groups, usually falling on the side of the progressives due to a tendency to feel empathy and to acknowledge the relativity of moral truths. Conservatives are driven by their heads, thus they see human existence as a zero-sum equation where someone has to lose for you to win. For them everything is black or white, right or wrong. They regard fence-sitting-seers-of-grey with contempt.

Throughout the 8 years of the Bush-Cheney administration we were treated to the monotone nattering drumbeat from ultra progressive partisans, ranting negatively about everything that "W" said or did. It was tiring but often laughable for the extremes that the Libs would go to find fault with the President.

Since he  was elected,  the cons have been  filling the blogosphere and airwaves with silly criticisms of everything Barack Obama has done since his inauguration. Examples abound:
He is blamed for the ineffectiveness of the economic stimulus package (which was started during Bush's term), he is blamed for not bringing the troops home, for supporting a surge in Afghanistan, and the record unemployment is clearly his fault.  The recent attack on the Benghazi embassy is another example where the opposition is bound and determined to embarrass Hillary Clinton and President Obama for snafus that they say were covered-up to help Obama get re-elected.

Many on the right wing have drifted to the fringes and embrace all sorts of conspiracy theories about the extreme path that the Obama administration is following to turn the US into a socialist state.  They say he wants illegal immigrants in the country so he can have more voters.  If you point out the non-citizens cannot vote, the anti-Obamite will just laugh at you and refer you to thousands of  cases of alleged voter fraud, which they say is only committed by Democrats.  ( In my personal experience I know of only one case where someone used a loophole to vote twice.  He is a Republican.)

The main thing for which Obama should be criticized is this abomination of legislation called health care reform (AKA: Obamacare). As a candidate, Obama promised transparency, but has been silent while his pals in congress concocted this monstrosity of a reform bill behind closed doors. Candidate Obama pledged not to sign any legislation with earmarks, ("...we can no longer accept an earmarks process in which many of the projects being funded fail to address the real needs of our country.") Yet, nothing has changed. Deals were made in exchange for votes. Obama has has failed in his promise to us on these most important issues.

Truth Seeking in the Land of Ideology

 I have frequently (and rather pompously) declared myself to be a Seeker Of Truth.   I emphasize that title with capital letters because I regard seeking the truth to be every bit as noble as other appellations such as, Chaplain, Professor, Doctor, Senator or even Dump Manager. (I claim solidarity with all workers in the profession of Waste Management, as we suffer similar scorn by society: our work is vital, yet society does not regard it as nice. But, someone needs to do it.)

Truth Seeking is scorned by true-believers.  The pursuit of Truth requires an  objective evaluation of facts.  This is impossible for one who is invested deeply in an ideology, which by definition is a system of doctrines based on beliefs.    It seems many TB's feel the need to loudly proclaim their moral superiority.  I regard this impulse as equivalent to whistling in the dark.  TB's almost always express fear - fear of  eternal punishment, fear of dangerous slippery slopes,  Socialism, terrorism, strangers, change, loss of traditional values, etc.

   

Debating with someone under the sway of ideology is futile, especially if you are invested in a competing set of doctrines. This is one of the reasons that dinner parties are less interesting these days.  Conversation has devolved to an assertion of beliefs rather than an exchange of honest information.  Listening once meant trying to keep an open mind, but no one listens anymore, except to listen for opportunities to hijack the discussion. (When not talking, the ideologue suffers the lame and inaccurate assertions of others, waiting for the critical  pause and then launches a nuanced verbal attack.)  No one seems to change their minds about anything.

It seems that when you become a TB and you decide what you truly believe in – whether it is Global Warming, Illegal Immigration, Progressive Taxation or Abortion (just to name a few) – you unshakably  believe only those assertions of fact that agree with your baseline position.  All other “facts” are suspect.  You question their validity because of the alleged bias of person who utters them, or the junk science that discovered them, on and on.  Faced with incontrovertible evidence, you will still find a way to stick to your root beliefs.  The shrinks have a name for it they call it "Cognitive dissonance".

In conversations with others, I have often been scoffed at as a fuzzy thinking fence sitter, a flip-flopper and probably worse.  My interlocutors must have felt it is an intellectual defect not to have a bear-hug on  a firmly-held conviction.  To me, it seems nearly impossible to find the Truth in the haystack of factoids, rumors and disinformation.    

I have never claimed to be the smartest guy in the room (except when I am alone with the cats)  but I privately (perhaps pompously) considered myself intellectually superior to smarter guys who did not realize that no issue is completely black or white. There are at least two sides to every issue. There are no absolute truths. 

Right wingers will use the 5^th Commandment of the Christian Bible to argue that killing is wrong, but they only mean it in the context of abortion.  These same believers will giddily approve the use of tax money to subsidize the production of weapons of mass destruction because it creates jobs.  But, where is that fine print in the Bible that allows situational exceptions to the injunction against killing?

Left wingers would like to remove all vestiges of human tribal inclination.  We are the world, they claim.  All resources belong to all men equally.  They would demolish state boundaries and distribute the wealth to everyone.  Yet without the competitive spirit of Capitalism there would be no wealth to distribute. 

These contradictions do not bother the True Believer.

Things are getting worse for Truth Seekers.  Negative political ads are nothing new, but recently the tack seems to have taken the direction towards the "low road."   There was a time when a smear ad would exaggerate the opponent's position, or take a quote out of context.  But the recent Romney TV ad deceptively shows Obama quoting a statement from the McCain campaign, as if it had been Obama's statement.
I think this is beneath contempt and would not consider voting for Mitt Romney unless he apologizes and fires the staff member(s) responsible for the ad.  Romney is more susceptible to negative ads than most polititians, since he can be honestly quoted to reveal his changeable positions.  True Believing conservatives already consider Mitt to be a shape-shifting, flip-flopping RINO (Republican in name only).   Now, he has alienated
Seekers of Truth.