Posted on 11/05/2019 3:49:26 AM PST by Kaslin
The left-right divide in America is, unfortunately, unbridgeable.
There are three reasons.
First, we are divided by our vision of what we want America to be.
The right believes the founders' vision was brilliant and moral, that bourgeois middle-class values are superior to alternative value systems; that rights come from God, not man; and that the state must be as small as possible. The left (not liberals) shares none of those values.
Second, we are divided by the means we use to achieve our vision. Given their different ends, left and right obviously differ on what means to use to achieve their ends.
Third, and perhaps most troubling, there is a reality-perception divide.
Left and right have different perceptions of reality.
I have been aware of this for many years, but it was dramatically brought home last week when I was a guest on "Real Time With Bill Maher." Given that the other two guests on the panel and more or less the entire studio audience were on the left, their reactions to what I said proved my point.
For example, I said that though there are, of course, racists in the United States, America is the least racist multiethnic and multiracial country in the world.
I was booed.
I said the United States military has brought so much liberty to the world it deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
I was booed.
Clearly, there is an unbridgeable divide in the way we perceive the reality of the American military's role in the world.
I said that it turned out the Russia-Trump campaign collusion never happened.
I was booed.
There is an unbridgeable divide in the way left and right perceive this reality.
I said the Trump-Ukrainian president phone transcript did not show a quid pro quo.
I was booed, and one of the other panelists said it actually showed "extortion."
This, too, constitutes an unbridgeable divide between the way left and right view reality.
I said John Brennan, the former CIA director, has voted communist. (He has admitted that he voted for the Communist Party USA presidential candidate Gus Hall in 1976.) I was dismissed as having made something up. Bill Maher sarcastically responded that he didn't recall Mao having been on any ballot.
And I said that people on the left say men can menstruate.
For that, I was not merely booed; I was laughed at by the panel, Maher and the audience.
Anyone can Google this and learn that I was entirely right. Just type "can men menstruate." One of the first results will be from the popular left-wing website The Daily Beast: "Yes, Men Can Have Periods and We Need to Talk About Them," reads one of its headlines. "How is this possible?" you might ask. Well, if a woman declares herself to be a man, then "a man" can have a period. In fact, last month, Procter & Gamble announced that it will remove the female Venus symbol from its Always line of menstrual products. After all, not only women menstruate.
The irony is that as soon as most progressives become aware that LGBTQ groups say that men menstruate, they will say that men menstruate. And that will be another differing perception of reality.
On each of these issues -- all the issues for which I was booed -- right and left have different perceptions of reality. That -- even more so than differing values -- makes the left-right divide unbridgeable. When you cannot agree on what is real, there is no possible bridging of the gulf.
The left believes the president colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. The reality is that there was no collusion. This is the conclusion of the Mueller report, but still, the left doesn't accept it.
The left is certain President Trump said the neo-Nazis are "very fine people" when referring to the protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia. The right is certain the president didn't say there are good neo-Nazis any more than he said there are good "antifa" members. When he said there were "very fine people on both sides," he was referring to those demonstrating on behalf of keeping Confederate statues and those opposed. See "The Charlottesville Lie" by CNN analyst Steve Cortes.
The left believes socialism is economically superior to capitalism. But the reality is that only capitalism has lifted billions of people out of poverty. This is, therefore, not an opinion divide -- "You prefer capitalism. I prefer socialism" -- but a reality divide.
The reason this is so frightening is that it means one side has lost its grip on reality. If half of this country cannot distinguish truth from falsehood, that is not a good sign for the nation's future. On that point, ironically, left and right can agree.
Always with the call for Compromise. The”Progressives” ask for it all, take half then Come back at a later date for the other half
The Republicans give us tax cuts but don’t cut spending. So we still have to pay the freight for higher deficits
Still “ The Flight 93 Election”. Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up
Yep. When we allowed the GOP to stop caring about social issues because it was too uncomfortable for them, we gave up the culture to the left.
“The left is evil”.....who believe that the right is evil........and are out to destroy us - in any way possible......with an overwhelming sense of self-righteousness in so doing......
BULLS-EYE!!!!! THE REAL HEART OF THE MATTER!
Thank you......
Why everything else is dealing with symptoms - and only addressing the root cause will work.......
bump
This is why we could see civil unrest. Because at some point it becomes a question of survival.
The fool believes the wise man is a fool.
I disagree with you, bert. I hope we can disagree and discuss this in a civil manner.
The key here is that I do not view all liberals as Leftists, and I suspect that you do.
I do agree that many “liberals” ARE enemies, but I also recognize that people change, often with time or circumstances.
Many of the most staunch conservatives I know have held a degree of liberal views at some point in their lives, most often when they were young and/or inexperienced. Some of those “liberal” views are minor in comparison, some are very liberal, but many people have entertained them at some time.
But as many of us journey through college, get a job, get married, raise children, and pay taxes, our views change. We mature. And that maturity process happens at different times for different people. But it does happen, hence the old saw about “If you aren’t a liberal at the age of 18, you have no heart. If you aren’t a conservative at the age of 40, you have no brain.”
Point is, many “liberals” are not committed Leftists, and I won’t damn them for what they are or were. I watched a video on Trump in 1999 when he went on the Jay Leno show, and he advocated taxing the rich. I winced, because that is a Leftist and class warrior viewpoint. But that isn’t who Trump is today, thank God.
Never mind Ronald Reagan, who has said he held what we call “liberal” views on many things earlier in his life, but in his case, The Democrat party began moving further and further to the left until it left him behind and he made his transition.
Likewise, I won’t treat liberals as my enemy until they demonstrate to me they have made the transition from Liberal to Leftist. I wan’t to give them a chance.
However, it has been my painful experience that Leftists, especially committed ones, rarely change. And I do view them as enemies.
The left is about joining the crowd and repeating the mantras that maximize social status.
They couldn’t care less if the mantras are lies.
At present, “liberals” are guilty by association. They are in effect accessories to the progressive conspiracy to overthrow the government. They all have dirty hands
“Conservatives” seem to be in love with legal immigration and virtue signal about ALL THE TIME. To me legal immigration is killing us just as much as illegal immigration. Importing more socialists is a bad bad thing. Which is why I no longer call myself a “Conservative”, I am a nationalist.
What about immigrants from countries that are explicitly anti-socialist? Taiwan, for instance.
The ultimate guage of reality is the Creator’s perspective. Get some (perspective). It has been easily accessible all the time through the senses and verified by scripture. Unfortunately when a person is so far gone the only thing to bring them back to their senses is physical pain. Some never come back from being crazy and have to be put away.
What about them?
Here are some especially intriguing numbers: According to the National Election Pool (NEP) exit polls sponsored by the major media outlets, 65 percent of Asian Americans voted for Hillary Clinton and 29 percent voted for the victor, Donald Trump. The figures on Latinos are identical: 65 percent and 29 percent.
Stop being a fool.
I think you will find that “Asians” and “Hispanics” mostly originated in socialist-leaning or full-socialist countries (India, most of South and Central America).
Those that came here as victims of socialism/communism (Taiwanese, South Koreans, South Vietnamese, Venezuelans, etc) comprise a very small minority of the two categories.
Thermometers don’t matter models do. Those with XX chromosomes can be men those with XY women. Nothing good has changed culturally for women since the 50’s. Unborn children are just tissue that can be removed like an enflamed appendix or infected tonsils. The US is a human rights nightmare, but Cuba is a workers paradise. Islam is a peaceful, feminist religion. I could go on, but...
Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, China, etc. - all examples of failed socialistic/communist societies. The Left thinks they failed because it wasn’t implemented and sustained properly.
Einstein said: “Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over, and expecting different results.” Therefore, Democrats/Socialists/Communists are insane.
You are talking about some of the younger members of my family. When I tell them about personal experience that don’t fit their worldview I’m told that’s my mythology.
Truer words have not been spoken. Been saying the same for years. The Left is ideological and intellectually lazy.
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