red nation, blue nation
creators.com/opinion/michael-barone/red-nation-blue-nation.html
Michael Barone has written another outstanding column that makes the same point that I have been harping on ever since the inception of my blog. Conservatives and liberals have two completely different worldviews which are largely incompatible. Those opposing worldviews make compromise, or consensus, almost impossible.
Read the following excerpt from Barone's column:
The Republicans want to protect us against Islamist terrorists. The Democrats want to protect us against climate change. Each side believes the other's fears are largely imaginary.....
The difference between the two parties' constituencies reflects two different views of America and the world.
Those who see Islamist terrorists as the proximate threat see a world in which Americans are largely blameless. Rep. John Murtha may think that the recently foiled plot against JFK Airport was a response to American intervention in Iraq, but September 2001 came before March 2003.
What we are guilty of, in Republican voters' view, is at worst a botched attempt to spread freedom and democracy in the world. And the people who would attack us are, in this view, truly evil. Negotiation, propitiation, appeasement, confessions of guilt — none of these will reduce the threat. Vigilance and going on offense will.
Those who see climate change as the proximate threat take another view, one that has evolved into a kind of secular religion. Debate on the science of climate change must be shut down — you must have faith.
We Americans have sinned, and we will be punished unless we repent and change our ways. We have been selfish, and we have failed to heed the advice of the more enlightened and sophisticated nations of the world. We must do penance by sacrificing some of our comforts (though not the gigantic houses and private jet travel of Al Gore or John Edwards). We must reduce carbon emissions by some tremendous percentage.
Barone has hit the nail right on the head. Liberals and conservatives just don't see the world in the same way. He also zeroed in on the hypocracy that is so obvious in the liberaliar orthodoxy.
The question that must now be answered by we the people is, "Which worldview will we vote for in 2008?" We will be held accountable by our children and grandchildren for our answer to that question today.
Michael Barone has written another outstanding column that makes the same point that I have been harping on ever since the inception of my blog. Conservatives and liberals have two completely different worldviews which are largely incompatible. Those opposing worldviews make compromise, or consensus, almost impossible.
Read the following excerpt from Barone's column:
The Republicans want to protect us against Islamist terrorists. The Democrats want to protect us against climate change. Each side believes the other's fears are largely imaginary.....
The difference between the two parties' constituencies reflects two different views of America and the world.
Those who see Islamist terrorists as the proximate threat see a world in which Americans are largely blameless. Rep. John Murtha may think that the recently foiled plot against JFK Airport was a response to American intervention in Iraq, but September 2001 came before March 2003.
What we are guilty of, in Republican voters' view, is at worst a botched attempt to spread freedom and democracy in the world. And the people who would attack us are, in this view, truly evil. Negotiation, propitiation, appeasement, confessions of guilt — none of these will reduce the threat. Vigilance and going on offense will.
Those who see climate change as the proximate threat take another view, one that has evolved into a kind of secular religion. Debate on the science of climate change must be shut down — you must have faith.
We Americans have sinned, and we will be punished unless we repent and change our ways. We have been selfish, and we have failed to heed the advice of the more enlightened and sophisticated nations of the world. We must do penance by sacrificing some of our comforts (though not the gigantic houses and private jet travel of Al Gore or John Edwards). We must reduce carbon emissions by some tremendous percentage.
Barone has hit the nail right on the head. Liberals and conservatives just don't see the world in the same way. He also zeroed in on the hypocracy that is so obvious in the liberaliar orthodoxy.
The question that must now be answered by we the people is, "Which worldview will we vote for in 2008?" We will be held accountable by our children and grandchildren for our answer to that question today.
posted by hondo at 6:30 PM
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