I first heard about the “liberals think everyone is basically good and conservatives think everyone is basically selfish” line from Rush years ago. I’ve thought a lot about it and the older I get, the more true it becomes.
It can be a painful thing, going from a deep-seated assumption that people are “basically good” to the realization that they’re not. It requires, as my husband would say, a complete “paradigm shift” that many aren’t self aware enough to contemplate, let alone master by incorporating it into their daily lives.
The belief of some that “people are basically good” and of others that “people are basically selfish” do NOT contradict each other. I believe that “people are BASICALLY good, up to that moment when that goodness comes into direct conflict with their SELFISH interests”. One may be pleased by the good fortune of another, but on realizing that the other’s good fortune does harm to MY good fortune, opinions change radically.
A civilized man does NOT set out to harm another for absolutely no purpose. However, when he sets out to further his own purpose and fortune and in the process hurts someone else...well...sorry about that. It is called HUMAN NATURE.
We Christians live it daily. As we say..."We all sin and fall short of the glory of God". It's part of our belief meme. For we recognize that without that absolute certainty, there would have been no reason for Christ's sacrifice on the Cross.
When we are young, we have not yet seen ourselves at our worst, so we judge others as we judge ourselves. After we fall from our own grace, we have to admit that we are all fallen. Old liberals will never confess to being fallen, and liberals always blame someone else. I have noticed though, that on News talk radio, the republicans are blaming everything on the dems. The republicans not taking action while in power, makes them just as guilty. I can’t imagine having that power, and I guess that is why God said the meek will inherit the earth.