Wow. It's been while! These
50-hour work weeks are taking my writing time, but I couldn't resist spending
part of my weekend responding to a recent item on Facebook which suggests that
Mitch McConnell seems to have directly contradicted himself, saying, in 2001,
that a sitting president is “entitled to tilt the (Supreme Court),” and in
2016, that under certain conditions, the entitlement is marginalized, and the
vacancy “should not be filled until we have a new president.”
Maybe Mitch didn’t mean to contradict
himself. Maybe it’s not even a contradiction! I mean, here we are looking at
both statements as though they directly conflict with one another. Maybe Mitch
could explain how they do not. Maybe we should wait and listen more closely to
him.
I sympathize with Mitch. I too am
inclined toward Conservatism, and I seem to contradict myself when I attempt to
express truth. Many times my words and actions nullify my proclamations on
truth and belie my Conservative leanings. I know it and admit it.
I also know that what follows is
philosophical, and therefore a bit difficult to appreciate. Loosely speaking,
it’s grounded in Socratic thinking, about which most of us don't know squat,
and therefore don’t think, and really don't give a rat's ass anyhow. But too
often, we don’t examine the mud hole we’re caught in, and Socratic thinking can
help us understand this mud hole:
Some believe that virtue is finite
and that they, and all other people, are irrevocably flawed and therefore
inclined toward doing that which works toward their private good and toward the
harm of others. This, they would say, is why we have the “letter of the law,”
to guide our wayward tendencies.
Some believe that virtue is infinite
and that they, and all other people, are basically good, and therefore inclined
toward doing that which is right and just and fair. The “letter of the law,”
they would say, is incapable of expressing and applying true virtue, and
therefore, the “letter of the law,” if we must have one to keep peace among us,
must be constantly revised.
Although most of us don’t comprehend,
or care to comprehend the state of these matters, nearly all of us gravitate
toward one extreme or the other. That’s the nature of politics. We either fear
human nature, or we trust it. That's the real distinction between Conservative
and Liberal, Democrat and Republican.
Still others try to escape making
this choice. They attempt to transcend ("rise above") the whole
business and discern the "real truth," but we’re only human; we’re not
very good at it. Mitch McConnell has tried. However, as you can see, his
proclamations reveal inclinations toward Conservatism. I’m not certain
what Mitch thinks about liberals, but I'm quite certain he’s doing his best to
rise above prejudice and proclaim a pristine truth, free of any overt bias.
I’m like Mitch. I'm inclined toward
Conservatism. But unlike Mitch, I will say that I'm completely aware of that
weakness. I regard my reaction more as a "gut level" response than a
philosophically grounded tendency, and as I make efforts to rise above it while
examining truth, I will also admit that I even admire true Liberals in certain
ways. I wish I could see things just a tiny bit more as they do. Then perhaps I
could really transcend and get closer to the truth.
Once my friend (Patrick Arnold, by
name - not his entire name) got us out of a mud hole by chaining a tree trunk
to the drive axle of a doodle bug and carefully rolling us forward. He’d drive
over the wood, then unhook it and chain it up again ahead of the wheels. We
were both under sixteen years old at the time. I thought it all looked a
little nuts at first. I had no idea what he was doing, but I trusted him.
I was amazed. His solution seemed miraculous! One minute, we were stuck to the
axles in muck. About ten or fifteen minutes later, we were out, continuing on
down the logging road.
Politically, theologically,
philosophically, financially, and in practically any way you wish to describe
it, this country is in a mud hole. What was once called the middle class is
spinning its wheels furiously, producing incredible wealth. The muck-a-mucks -
that’s what Mom used to call the filthy rich - are draining all that energy off
and pocketing the cash.
Muck-a-mucks are perfectly aware of
this reality. They LOVE their mud hole. To divert us from our true problems and
keep us spinning our wheels, they’re intentionally clouding every legitimate
issue by supporting those who express popular prejudices with bombastic
language. Yes, I believe it's that simple. That's where a large share of our
major problems begin and end.
We have to quit throwing crazy language around and stop
hiding in our Liberal or Conservative “principles,” many of which are actually
prejudices. We need to stop dismissing the thoughts of others as nuts. We need
to give a rat’s ass at least, and listen to all possibilities, strive to
transcend our own prejudices, and participate in the process of finding
compromises that will at least keep us going. In a diverse culture like ours,
maintaining balance is the only way forward.
