George Rebane
[Update – A slightly edited version of this post was published here in the 12dec24 online and 13dec24 print editions of The Union.]
The other day I read a newspaper column by a good-hearted commentator who tried to convince readers that there already exists a natural and effective path both sides can travel to heal the historical schism which today separates us and grows wider by the year. In keeping with the season when families gather to celebrate their holidays, our columnist pointed out that sharing “our love of family and friends and our desire for the best for them” is sufficient common ground to foster a dialogue for healing our nation’s breach.
We have heard such shibboleths for decades now as the country’s ideological factions continue to draw us apart. My own thoughts on this seeming paradox have led to the realization that it is precisely those shared sentiments we have for family and friends that have driven us apart, and which will continue to do so the more we all are intensely concerned for the future of our loved ones.
Reflecting on the matter, we see it is really the diametrically opposite endpoints of the country’s governance, in which both sides fervently believe and work for, that give rise to the hate and discontent we have with each other. As a free market capitalist who believes in individual liberties, and who has directly experienced living under their absence, I loathe the thought of all those ignorant yet well-meaning neighbors and fear their cynical political leaders who work day and night to achieve a collectivist autocracy under which all that we hold near and dear about the organization of society will become impossible. I and people who share my beliefs consider the achievement of such ends, especially under the cloak of perfidy, to be the dominant and overwhelming evil of our times that will endure and prevail unless we address it openly and directly in the public forum.
And the rank and file of such believers in collectivism share the exact opposite views, and of us as the purveyors of programs and policies that will lead to a tyranny reminiscent of Nazism and fascism (although predictably not socialism or communism). Understandably they want none of that for their families and friends, and see us opposing their ideological desiderata as the nation’s evil ones. And so the beat goes on, vehemently abetted by disastrously misunderstood shared values where each side is convinced the other side wants to herd them down the road to serfdom.
That we continue to hope for change and rapprochement while beseeching the same laudable social values of hearth, home, family, and friends no doubt qualifies such behavior as another form of mass insanity that guarantees our growing separation.
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