I know that no one will agree with me on this topic. Not many people do, but this is one subject that I have thought about, written about ( a whole entire thesis) and researched a lot about and it is the topic of political ideology. I have studied Edmund Burke, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Irving Kristol, and many others. I suffered through book after book about the topic during graduate school to the point where my incessant self-reflection on the matter almost drove me crazy. It is for this reason alone that I am so glad I was on vacation when the super-committee failed. Had I been home, my computers would have been found on the sidewalk, broken in frustration, along with my televisions and radios. Instead, I took the news half drunk on a beach in St. Maarten, thank God.
With all of my hard work, researching, writing, and graduating behind me, I can honestly say, "HA! You stupid politicians! At least I would be able to control my passions, judgements, insecurities, irrationality, and most importantly my ambition to do something good for my own country." I can also honestly say if you are someone who champions this failure, then God helps us all. This is not the kind of democracy and government our "founding fathers" envisioned. This is something I know about and it scares me to see, nay, experience, in this...our nation's time of need. Can you imagine how America's history would have unfolded had our government always been racked with inaction and an inability to come to a consensus. Also, if you have forgotten a consensus does not mean one way or the other. Again, I say shame on you if this is what you espouse.
Imagine how many solutions are off the table when one party, with one ideology goes it alone. I might even go so far as to say it is very similar to totalitarian governments, one party, one solution, a whole population without a voice. We should be well aware of all, when I say all I mean more than two, the different economic, social, and religious theories out there. That being said, if you can wake up every morning and look in the mirror with the honest moral certitude in knowing that what you think is the right and the only way without one fiber of doubt, then I cannot decided whether to congratulate you what I see as an impossible feat, or bite my tongue while holding the utmost contempt for your contribution to the downfall of our society. Because, I my friends, questions every thought that pops into my head, every answer to every questions, every analysis to everything I read, every feeling, every emotion, every action, every dream, every experience, and every conclusion. I used to think it was a curse. That I would be bound to aimlessly wander this difficult world without any sort direction, but the older I get I find myself with more opportunities. It has granted me the ability to change with time, circumstance, and the unpredictable. It is something our government should be able to do, but I am finding it crippled with inaction because of the demands from a growing segment of the population, conservative and liberal, who cleave to the notion that resting on your laurels and principles in an unbending fashion is a virtue to be emulated. I will not deny that there are basic principles and common decencies that should always be adhered to, but if in that quest we allow for incompetence and tyranny, if we cannot better ourselves with the time and circumstances we are given, then what is the point of living. We move forward with the future, and this may be my inner coach, but if you cannot wake up every morning excited for what the future will bring then you will never move forward. If you wake up every morning, looking to repeat what happened yesterday, then how can you look forward to a new day, with new beginnings.
Look at the original Neoconservatives, Irving Kristol, Ben Wattenberg, Paul Wolfowitz, or Jeanne Kirkpatrick, even they took a multi-ideological approach to their politics. They took the what they perceived as the best of conservative foreign policy ideas and combined those ideas with the best liberal domestic policy ideas then formed the basis of their own group. Unfortunately it was hijacked by narrow minded ambitious power grabbers, like so much in this country, and the neoconservative ideas that originated in the 1970's are completely unrecognizable today. Taking this ultra-partisan approach to anything is quite frankly, obtuse. It reflects an inability to see anything beyond your own nose and I have a hard time believing this will ultimately help America solve its problems. In reality, I see it as the major factor contributing to America's ruin.
