Working together/working apart
I've gotten a little overwhelmed with the non blogging life lately and haven't had a chance to comment here much. It's likely to stay that way for a another week or so, so I apologize to anyone who comes here regularly.
I have been reading. I wanted to comment on something that Ken Granlund pointed out over at Common Sense. He's got a great blog for anyone who hasn't visited. In one of his posts he points out that the two parties in the US have gotten so polarized that they have vilified the other. From the perspective of Creating Peace, I think it's an interesting point.
Let's take the original thought forms of these parties. Republicans were about a smaller government, staying close to tried and true principles and keeping the government small so that taxes were lower. The Democrats were for the common man, reforming things so that the common man who was down on his luck didn't end up on the street or the poor farm and for creating progams that ultimately created a larger government costing more.
Think about what these two philosophies could do side by side. Working together we could have people who wanted to protect those people in the country who were down on their luck. What did they need? Okay what's a cost effective way to see to it that these things were supplied? Maybe it wasn't at the grandiose program supplied by the democratic thinker, but perhaps it was done in a way that was feasible. Really, I think both sides working together from those philosophical notions (which were the definitions of the parties as I grew up) was the best of both worlds. I'm not sure things every happened so neatly but the concept of working together was there.
Instead, as Ken points out, we have gotten to a point where each party vilifies the other, suggesting that they have nothing to offer. You need to be Democrat or Repuclican on all issues no matter what because the other side is worse. Instead of working together for the betterment of all, they are squabbling like children on a playground. What exactly does this do? There are 6,000 missing people along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. More are homeless. Hundreds were trapped for days in a city without water. I think we've seen what the vilification of the other can do to our country. What's it doing to our world.
I have been reading. I wanted to comment on something that Ken Granlund pointed out over at Common Sense. He's got a great blog for anyone who hasn't visited. In one of his posts he points out that the two parties in the US have gotten so polarized that they have vilified the other. From the perspective of Creating Peace, I think it's an interesting point.
Let's take the original thought forms of these parties. Republicans were about a smaller government, staying close to tried and true principles and keeping the government small so that taxes were lower. The Democrats were for the common man, reforming things so that the common man who was down on his luck didn't end up on the street or the poor farm and for creating progams that ultimately created a larger government costing more.
Think about what these two philosophies could do side by side. Working together we could have people who wanted to protect those people in the country who were down on their luck. What did they need? Okay what's a cost effective way to see to it that these things were supplied? Maybe it wasn't at the grandiose program supplied by the democratic thinker, but perhaps it was done in a way that was feasible. Really, I think both sides working together from those philosophical notions (which were the definitions of the parties as I grew up) was the best of both worlds. I'm not sure things every happened so neatly but the concept of working together was there.
Instead, as Ken points out, we have gotten to a point where each party vilifies the other, suggesting that they have nothing to offer. You need to be Democrat or Repuclican on all issues no matter what because the other side is worse. Instead of working together for the betterment of all, they are squabbling like children on a playground. What exactly does this do? There are 6,000 missing people along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. More are homeless. Hundreds were trapped for days in a city without water. I think we've seen what the vilification of the other can do to our country. What's it doing to our world.
posted by Bonnie at 2:40 PM
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