Perhaps you have heard of Edmund Burke, if not, he is most commonly know as the founder of modern conservatism. He we a 18th century philosopher who was a great admirer of the American Revolution and a unyielding critic of the French Revolution. If you are unfamiliar with his work, then you must be asking yourself, "What is the difference?" The answer is easy. It is simply, extremism. He revered the American practice of forming their institutions and constitution on the ancient traditions of Great Britain. He hated the French for slaughtering their nobility with the guillotine and for tearing down and dismembering all of France's ancient institutions and traditions. His philosophy is the bases for why American Conservatives, after 1917, despised communists and communist revolutionaries who were prevalent in Latin America in the 1960's and 1970's.
Poor Edmund Burke. He must be rolling in his grave today. I say these words with a keen eye on not only our politicians, but also the American citizens who are so intent on letting their manufactured anger continue to be their guiding principle. To understand my own personal fear, all one must do is listen to the national discourse, the political debates, and the never ending line of talking heads. It is found in the cheering of those at the recent Republican debates about how many people have been executed, or cheering at the example of the 30 year old man dying for lack of insurance, or the incessant name callings and inability of our government to do anything. The old cliche that moderation is the key is not a lie, or a fallacy. As Burke so aptly states, "social and civil freedom, like all other things in common life, are variously mixed and modified, enjoyed in very different degrees, and shapes into an infinite diversity of forms, according to the temper and circumstances of every community." So people, why all the tension?
We do not always have to agree on everything every politician says and does, but there is NO doubt in my mind that we should also believe that, like us, they want to see America succeed. I might not have agreed with 90% of what George W. Bush did, but did I for one minute think that he wanted to see the destruction of America or that his policies were created for the express purpose of killing our economy. I feel the same way about President Obama, Paul Ryan, Dick Durban, and many more. However, in the same breath, what scares the ever living day lights out of me is the fact that we have politicians surfacing whom I truly believe are only looking out for themselves. Demagogues in the Huey Long and Joe McCarthy fashion. People who enjoy the power and hearing applause. Never before, really, has this been an issue. Americans have always had moderate characters looking out for their best interest, knights in shining armor like; William F. Buckley, Irving Kristol, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., and Huber Humphrey. Today, sadly those voices are being drown out by the applause of those, who do not understand that in politics, as Burke also says, "It is no excuse for presumptuous ignorance, that is directed by insolent passion."
In that sense and without protections from influential writers, journalist, academics, and politicians, to keep these extremist in check, it falls on the American people. The true "silent majority" and "vital center." Princeton Historian Sean Wilentz wrote a piece for the New Yorker in 2010, discussing the root of extremism in today's America. Also lamenting the disappearance of reason he states, "In the absence of forthright leadership, on both the right and the left, the job of standing up to extremists appears to have been left to the electorate." What is the consequence if no one rises to the challenge? I do not even want to imagine. For I do not want any part of a world were compassion and compromise are ugly words. Or where moral judgement of others is the norm and people are excluded from opportunity and living life to the fullest because they simply adhere to a different religion, have a different skin color or sexual orientation. I do not want to be a part of a world that applauds record breaking executions or full of people who are too quick to say "I told you so" instead of offering up a helping hand.
Let's stand up for humanity, for democracy, and for what the United States of America has always stood for and let's be the community, one nation indivisible, that our Founding Fathers wanted us to be.
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