A local newspaper editor emailed to ask: Why do you think the current political discourse has gotten so coarse lately? She's doing an article and wanted my perspective.
I answered: The short answer is that people are coarse by nature. But, the larger issue is our political history and the immensity of what's at risk, today.
Politics in America has been strewn with really awful rhetoric, personal attacks and in some cases even physical attacks. I guess we think politicians are "Fair Game," since they put themselves "out there."
Adding to that tradition, I believe what we're seeing and hearing, today, is the clash of worldviews. We heard it for years, when the conservative (so-called) agenda was being supported -- now it's the "other guy's" turn.
What's ramping it all up is a combination of altering over 200 years of American tradition and law, and then telling critics they don't matter, or worse. [Pelosi's "Nazi" comment and Carter's "Racist" comment are but two illustrations]
Over the last 50 or so years, in America, our leadership has steadily moved us away from our moral roots onto the slippery slope of humanism, which is to say a relative morality. The result is a population that no longer pays any attention to what's right or good, in an absolute sense. Everything is now relative! And our public discourse reflects that.
For example, to support abortion, the U.S. Supreme Court found a "Right" in the Constitution that isn't there and over 45 million babies have been legally killed, since 1973. Science has since found that the fertilized egg in a woman is not part of her body, at all. Once fertilized it becomes something distinct from it's parts. Apparently we were too quick to legalize this awful thing. And, some of the same people who are critical of Obama and the Liberal Left, were not happy with that decision, either. They see this as more of the same.
To support National Health Care, the President and Congress are finding more "Rights" that aren't there....arguing that it's compassionate. Americans aren't buying it, for the obvious reasons -- cost and principle.
A minority of politicians are pushing through a massive spending bill, on top of the already massive spending this government sees as necessary. Locally, the same is true. In a down-economy, our State and local governments have actually increased our costs through fees and taxes on essential items.
In our Church, we cut our 2009 budget by 15%, in anticipation of a difficult financial year, and have seen NO reduction in spending -- everything went UP. This is unconscionable. And it upsets people.
Add to that the arrogance of Democrats, at Town Hall Meetings, and you get an over-reaction.
Golden Rule? When our leadership operates by this standard, the population will follow. It's a Truism that the leadership sets the tone. And they are constantly showing us how they expect to be treated.
There are Two Americas: One that wants us to be like Europe: Social Democrats, the other wants us to be what we've always been: a Capitalistic Republic. The minority is winning this debate and it upsets the majority who will be left to pay for it.
Underlying all this is Religion. America was founded on biblical principles of government, economics and social standards. Pulling us away from that to the Religion of Humanism is going to create serious reaction, even from people who aren't particularly religious.
It's our Tradition. It has sustained us and made us great. The French Revolution was an exercise in Humanism -- and it was barbaric. The American Revolution was an exercise of Contract Law, supported by biblical standards. Great Britain had reneged on her agreement. And the Colonists had spent 10 years trying to get Great Britain to honor her contracts before issuing their Declaration of Indepence. There are many parallels in our current turmoil.
I expect this coarseness to continue. There are few social controls left. You hear it in the preachers who rail against politicians in less than kind ways and with monstrous comparisons. Men who should know better, but are frightened at what they see.
I also expect to live long enough to see America a Humanistic, Socialistic society. We're already there, in the areas that count. It's just a matter of legitimizing it in law and practice. In the end: You get what you reward.
We've been rewarding indolence and greed; self gratification and individual morality. Those are the "chickens" that have come home to roost. It has been fascinating to listen to men who make no pretense at religious conviction spout Bible verses and principles in defense of our liberties in the public square. All the while living opposite that rhetoric in their private lives.
They don't see the disconnect; the hypocrisy. And that's America in the 21st century.
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