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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30,2006
Civility
To paraphrase Thomas Hobbes - the 16th century
English philosopher - this campaign has been
nasty, brutish and long. Hobbes was speaking about what distinguished society from the state of nature; primarily a deliberate, dispassionate, and reasoned consensus called the social contract. In a word, civility
More often these days we would rather reduce our participation in society to bumper sticker slogans and the emotions of entitlement, exclusivity, and isolation. No need to bother with the details, labels are better and whether it is left or right, liberal or conservative, the meaning behind the labels has long since become lost as they are shouted across a vast chasm of deliberate misunderstanding or willful ignorance.
, Thoughtful consideration is nowhere present. People seem to cling to their own fear even in the face of overwhelming evidence of harmful repercussions affecting not only distant ‘others’, but their neighbors, their friends, their families.. .even themselves. Often it seems that America has become trapped by a cult of igfUntSGt fettf fear, of the blithely self-righteous, suecumbing to base emotion over often difficult and deliberate reason.
The discord has reached screaming intensity, with each side hurling ever greater insults and aspersions including racist incitements, fear mongering in the extreme, violent threats alluded and condemnation of any view that is counter to whichever position one decides to retreat within.
Everyone seems to blame the other for our present condition, but no one seems to be willing to yield their position. This is ridiculous. A representative democracy requires consensus and reasoned debate. It assumes differences, it does not exclude them. The only real America is the one in which peoples of all cultures, religions and races can deliberate together and reach a consensus.
We are hoping that whatever the outcome of the election, that the real America will once again step forward and take a rightful place as the leader among enlightened nations. To do that, we need to realize that everyone counts, that none hold monopoly on truth and that abiding together with our glorious differences is the only way forward.
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