Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the primary difference between what in America are called liberals and conservatives, boils down to the question, can government solve our problems. As a society we have many difficulties, some have been with us since the dawn of time and others are more recent, but people, society and civilization have problems. So, can government solve these problems for us, or should we do it ourselves? How you answer this question largely determines who you generally vote for. (Or should vote for). We all have a stake in this question, whether we want to or not, so it is best if we examine it to see if our preconceptions maybe clouding our judgment.
No one is unable to point out inequities in our society and civilization. Our pundits are paid handsomely to do this endlessly. We are regaled daily how this or that aspect of civil life is threatened by this or that action. The problems get bigger and more intractable and we shrink at the very thought of addressing them. The unbiased media play one string, that string is that if only a new law were passed… proving to us how they answer the question.
Everyone wants to point out a trouble but very few ever have any ideas how to solve them so most of us, or maybe not, turn to government. If a thing seems to us to be too big for us to handle, as individuals, we feel overwhelmed. This feeling of being overwhelmed induces in us another feeling, that of powerlessness. Anyone who feels powerless to meet a societal issue turns to whomever seems to have the power they themselves lack. Government has that power, it is titanic, rich… and is always willing.
People who feel government is the best able to solve the issues facing Mankind, are more likely to vote democrat/progressive, while those who believe government is as often as not the font of these problems, is more likely to vote republican/conservative. The political divide in the US is far more nuanced than this crude representation, but to reduce the granularity would be far too time consuming, and wouldn’t further our understanding. There is some merit to both arguments, the one is more pleasing to the emotions, and the other, to reason.
The argument that government can solve our problems is based in emotion rather than logic. As I indicated before, the main reason we turn to government, is due to our emotion of being overwhelmed and thus powerless. Government, being huge, powerful and wealthy, is seen as having the most ability to enact some solution that eases our feeling of powerlessness. Even if they don’t fix anything or even make it worse… responsibility will be lifted from our shoulders. In our emotionally induced blindness, we fail to see that the very power that government wields, is a derivative of our own massed power, but the feeling of powerlessness and the desire to be unburdened, makes that option the most glittering.
Those that consider government a poor choice to repair all the problems in society and culture, base their arguments more in reason, than in emotion. Clearly some of the problems we face as human beings is and was generated by government. To deny this would be to deny the Sun comes up in the East and sets in the West. Logic further dictates that government is made up of people, with flaws and foibles, just as any group of human beings, this gives us the insight that they may or may not be the best people to solve a variety of issues, in fact they may be the exact wrong people to be given such power. Especially if the trouble they are given to fix is based outside their sphere of reality. These considerations, along with the inescapable unintended consequences that go along with every government action, give us a strong argument that society is in fact not best served, when government is the solution to every question.
Emotion is as valid a reason to make a decision as logic. When faced with a hungry lion we use emotion to great effect. But, emotion is in the sphere of animals and reason is the attribute of Mankind. Government is a fabrication of mankind. When faced with a danger that is based in nature, we are well served to use emotion to get us out, but when faced with a non natural danger, we are best served to reason it out. The focus of a natural danger being time dependent, and one of our own construction being situationally dependent, we are smart to keep them each in their respective universes. So, to use emotion where logic is due, is as foolish as to use logic where emotion is called for. In all things… including government.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
