Hope and Politics.
Dec. 13th, 2005 12:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rowynOne of my leftist friends was talking to a conservative, and one of the things the conservative said was 'Liberals live in a very different world from me. I don't think I'd like it there; it seems like a very bleak and depressing place'.
My friend defended herself ably from this contention, but it run a chord with me nonetheless. My liberal friends do have a very bleak outlook on the direction the world is going in.
On reflection, I don't think it has anything to do with liberals being particularly pessimistic, or conservatives being optimistic. I think it's more about empowerment. American liberals are living under a Republican Congress and Republican president, and they quite naturally feel that this government doesn't reflect their political ideals. We're on the wrong track; of course things -- politically, at least -- are bound to get worse instead of better. I see the same pessimism in many conservatives, for that matter, because a lot of them aren't getting what they want either. Y'know, like some people on the left are ticked because we don't spend enough money on schools and we have a patchwork hash of a healthcare system, while some on the right hate the national gov't is still spending hand-over-fist and digging us deeper into debt. Which is funding, among other things, a hugely expensive drug benefit for Medicare. I don't actually know anyone on any side who's actually voiced approval for that drug benefit. You'd think it'd make someone happy but I don't know that it has.
Anyway, part of my point is that political orientation is so much more complex than our "two party" system represents. A lot of my friends are so far from identifying with either that it doesn't much matter which party is in power: they're still going to feel disenfranchised. They know how they want the government to work, and neither mainstream Republicans nor mainstream Democrats agree with them, so they're not going to win no matter which side comes out on top.
Funny thing is, that last describes me pretty well, too. I still vaguely consider myself small-L libertarian: fiscal conservative, social liberal. The Libertarian party is never going to go any where, and Republicans have been doing at least as much tax-and-spend as Democrats do, just on different issues. (Sometimes.) "Family values" and "war against terror" gets a lot more lip service than "civil liberties" nowadays (has it always? Are civil liberties just not sexy, in the same way that small government and untargetted tax cuts are not sexy?)
And yet I'm basically optimistic about the state of America and the world. I don't know why that is, exactly. I just have this peculiar faith that things are going to be OK, that the police and the military are not going to be overwhelmed by corruption and powerlust, that we're not going to lose our prized freedoms, that the economy is not going to face-plant into the ground. This isn't a factor of "my guys" being in power. I felt just the same when the Republicans took Congress in my liberal days in the 90s, or when I'd switched to libertarian leanings and Clinton was still president. "It'll be all right."
Maybe it's that I think the nation is resilient, that there are enough good people in the country that it doesn't matter which monkeys you put in Washington.
Or maybe I'm just not that convinced that my politics are right. Hey, it's the way I think the country should be run -- but I could be wrong. Maybe it's just as well that my side isn't in charge. Who knows what hash we might make of things?
My friend defended herself ably from this contention, but it run a chord with me nonetheless. My liberal friends do have a very bleak outlook on the direction the world is going in.
On reflection, I don't think it has anything to do with liberals being particularly pessimistic, or conservatives being optimistic. I think it's more about empowerment. American liberals are living under a Republican Congress and Republican president, and they quite naturally feel that this government doesn't reflect their political ideals. We're on the wrong track; of course things -- politically, at least -- are bound to get worse instead of better. I see the same pessimism in many conservatives, for that matter, because a lot of them aren't getting what they want either. Y'know, like some people on the left are ticked because we don't spend enough money on schools and we have a patchwork hash of a healthcare system, while some on the right hate the national gov't is still spending hand-over-fist and digging us deeper into debt. Which is funding, among other things, a hugely expensive drug benefit for Medicare. I don't actually know anyone on any side who's actually voiced approval for that drug benefit. You'd think it'd make someone happy but I don't know that it has.
Anyway, part of my point is that political orientation is so much more complex than our "two party" system represents. A lot of my friends are so far from identifying with either that it doesn't much matter which party is in power: they're still going to feel disenfranchised. They know how they want the government to work, and neither mainstream Republicans nor mainstream Democrats agree with them, so they're not going to win no matter which side comes out on top.
Funny thing is, that last describes me pretty well, too. I still vaguely consider myself small-L libertarian: fiscal conservative, social liberal. The Libertarian party is never going to go any where, and Republicans have been doing at least as much tax-and-spend as Democrats do, just on different issues. (Sometimes.) "Family values" and "war against terror" gets a lot more lip service than "civil liberties" nowadays (has it always? Are civil liberties just not sexy, in the same way that small government and untargetted tax cuts are not sexy?)
And yet I'm basically optimistic about the state of America and the world. I don't know why that is, exactly. I just have this peculiar faith that things are going to be OK, that the police and the military are not going to be overwhelmed by corruption and powerlust, that we're not going to lose our prized freedoms, that the economy is not going to face-plant into the ground. This isn't a factor of "my guys" being in power. I felt just the same when the Republicans took Congress in my liberal days in the 90s, or when I'd switched to libertarian leanings and Clinton was still president. "It'll be all right."
Maybe it's that I think the nation is resilient, that there are enough good people in the country that it doesn't matter which monkeys you put in Washington.
Or maybe I'm just not that convinced that my politics are right. Hey, it's the way I think the country should be run -- but I could be wrong. Maybe it's just as well that my side isn't in charge. Who knows what hash we might make of things?
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no subject
Date: 2005-12-13 10:18 pm (UTC)Most of the people I know who grouse all the time have a more liberal political view than I do - at least, that's what I gather. But then, that doesn't prove a thing: It may well be that I just happen to be in circles that comprise of:
a) A lot of people who have a lot to complain about,
and,
b) A lot of people whose leanings are further left than mine.
For point A, a LiveJournal, for instance, naturally lends itself to a higher percentage of "grousing" than I might run into, in normal conversation. And for B, well, my workplace is very, very liberal. (I know of no one, no one, in my workplace who is of a conservative leaning, or who quietly sits out on political and/or religious discussions. The fact that I don't participate probably pegs my opinion for everyone else.)
For what it's worth, I'm pretty optimistic. I am not complete. I am hard-pressed, for instance, to give a really good and articulate "apology" for my faith and the reasons behind it - at least, to any level that would satisfy a non-believer. I think I'd probably feel a lot more optimistic if I not only believed I was right, but could explain exactly, with no gaps and no openings, with absolutely every base covered, why.
But nonetheless, mine isn't a gloom-and-doom worldview. There is life and death, and evil (and plain ol' jerkishness) will always be with us. But there is a lot of good. Even among those who I disagree with from time to time, I believe that they believe in what they say. I may not believe that their approach to goodness is the right one, but I am heartened that at the very least they agree that "good" is a good thing. (I just wish I could persuade many of them to believe the same of me and mine. ;) )
no subject
Date: 2005-12-14 02:01 am (UTC)Perhaps you're just hanging out with the wrong non-believers. ];-)
In all seriousness, I treat matters of faith as being in a different category entirely from matters of politics or history or science. If you are sincerely convinced that there is a benevolent God watching over us, I accept that. I know that I cannot prove that this is not true -- nor am I interested in doing so -- and I'm content with the situation. I've seen a fair amount of word games on both sides of the issue, and I'm too good at word games to invest much in them as a source of truth. But word games, whether poor theology or poor secular semantics, don't determine this issue.
When religion stumbles into science, I sometimes see conflict, and that can be addressed -- as a matter of science. But just as surely, I see politics stumble into science, with often regrettable results.
I am loathe to challenge someone merely for holding a different political opinion -- though when they express some underlying data that they are basing it on, I can sometimes contribute different information.
But as to religion ... it's at its essence unchallengeable, generally does good for a lot of people, and even good for people not part of the religion (faith based charities, for example) -- so I'm happy with it.
Good and evil are simplified concepts, of course. But when you look at the world, you can find much that fits pretty cleanly into these definitions. Those things that are good should be increased, and evil fought against -- and the shades of gray pushed toward good wherever possible.
I remain optimistic, including optimistic about the fact that these things can be done. And that there are being done, to a certain extent. So I am a believer, too -- a believer in mankind.
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