and back to the original point…
The original point of Tam’s post, that I hijacked and took off on a tangent at warp .9, (Would that be a Tamgent? ) is that the intarweb (along with all the other media outlets and inlets and orifices (orifii?) has caused a fragmentation- a disturbance in the force, so to speak.
One of the biggest problems with this glut of information is that we have all become parties of One. (No, not The One). We have each chosen what our own personal Optimal Conservative is, and god help the candidate who doesn’t follow that pattern. I have written about this before.
INstead of bonding together in our similarities we separate because of our differences. And I’m not too likely to be wearing a tinfoil beanie anytime soon, but I am starting to believe more and more that the dissonance is contrived and intentional. The divisiveness is foisted upon us lest we start grabbing rope and herding politicians toward lamp posts. it involves everything from “don’t ask don’t tell” to Open Carry.
We all have our own opinions on everything. We need to understand our differences, and deal with them, not fight one another. We are not the enemy.
Okay, here’s a start: Individual Liberty. Most of the things that divide us only divide us because we have unwittingly or unwillingly allowed our liberties to lapse. Focus on that, everything else will heal as a result. Free men are peaceful and generous; slaves are resentful and divisive.
An example: immigration reform. The only reason we care about immigration is that we have allowed ourselves to be taxed to support a welfare state that is ripe for abuses through illegal immigration. The problem is the tax, not the immigrant. Yet, for some reason, we’ve let “conservatives” actually debate repealing the 14th Amendment as a means of solving the immigration problem — and they weren’t lynched! Shame on us. You don’t regain Liberty by denying it to others.
Having been intimately familiar with the immigration process (the Ogwife is a canajian) I can tell you, it sucks riverwater. If immigration for the purposes of employment were a better process, I think more would use it. It’s the deliberate avoidance by many of a convoluted and obtuse process that gets my goat. Make it so people can come here legally to work. Let them pay taxes. make it as simple as getting a driver’s license. And make the employers pay them what they’d pay everyone else. I’m all for it. never met a wetback that wasn’t willing to put in a decent day’s work and then some so he could live better, and it hasn’t been that many generations ago for ANY of us here. Thanks, hypna.
I think it’s largely from the same place as “X offends/scares me, so therefore NO ONE should have access to/have to see/be allowed to do X.” In other words, too many people who don’t know how to adjust to real life and its various unpleasantries.
My mom chalks it up to people growing up in houses where everyone has their own bedroom and/or bathroom. When you’ve got five people working out of one W.C., you learn to adapt real quick to other people’s preferences while still holding your own.
I’ve said for years that they need to severely streamline the immigration process while simultaneously doing everything they can to close the illegal border traffic. The folks actually coming here to WORK aren’t the problem. The fucking MS-13 gang members clogging our prisons and the one plopping out a new kid every 9 months for a welfare check to send home to Mexico is the damn problem.
It’s the dogmatism. There’s not enough latitude in some peoples’ definitions of *whatever* – and that includes most Liberals too.
We need to cut a whole lot of slack IN for Individual variation, while also cutting a whole lot of crap OUT from Government. We get offtrack so fast with our little peanut brains you’d think that collectively we become a squirrel.
And this is the main reason (even though I tend to lean toward a conservative view on a number of things) when I am asked what is my political stance and or what “party” do I belong to, I say I am independent. That at the end of the day, I vote for the constitution! If whatever the issue is, or whomever the individual is, is as close to the proper constitution “take” as possible. Originalist here, with common sense for those issues not covered or reflecting where technology has bypassed original constitutional intent (isolationalism for example, is no longer a realistic option, in these days of ICBMs and such).
It is my personal belief (YMMV) if we follow the guidelines as set forth by the founding fathers, there would be MORE freedom on an individual level than there is now, not less. Funny that all the folks wanting (or claiming to want) the ability to do “this” or “that”, are usually the ones who want to follow the constitution the least.
The founding fathers and their fellow congress critters, did not march in lock step. But they did work together to produce a workable republic, and the framework in which to keep it going. Can we do no less than they did, in working past our differences in order to repair and or advance the greater good?
“Would that be a Tamgent?”
Wow!! For some reason that sounded extra dirty, with cheese.
Oh, and per 99% of the time, I agree.