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A nation divided. That's what they've been saying.
First of all... "duh." We have a two-party political system. Second there's the social welfare effect. After the Roosevelt era the United States has become somewhat of a socialist state. There was a depression. Something was necessary, and it's better than facism although harder to reverse. Take the case of a federal government taking money away from those who make more money than the median income and giving it to those who make less than the median. It only makes sense that the upper half are going to vote against that, and the lower half for that. The first two are divisions in number. This third point is a deeper division, the cultural conflict. The Constitution is a document laying out the framework of the federal government. The Bill of Rights was added to further define the role and power, or rather limitation of power, of the federal government. Thomas Jefferson declared, "By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters against doing evil which no honest government should decline." The rights were written into the Constitution. The Constitution is not the source of rights. It is a unique and very special document, but not sacred. George Washington said that the Rights offer "a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for public harmony." For years there were laws against abortion, pornography, homosexual unions, etc. Those things were done anyway below the surface and tolerated. It was a system that kind of worked smoothly considering the circumstances. The conservatives made laws for years, centuries actually, that shaped society without being accused for pushing their self-righteous views on otherwise free people. At least no one took the accusations seriously. But now the people who support miscellaneous vices have entered the court system and have used legislative tactics to fix the situation, to overcome the suppressors. The intent of the Bill of Rights as Jefferson said was to keep the government from doing evil, not to protect the people from consequences of doing evil, but we ignore that. The social war has infiltrated the government. One major step was when the Supreme Court decided more or less that there can't be any laws against abortion. Justice Blackmun couldn't find anything concrete in the Constitution to support this decision, but came up with the following: "This right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the District Court determined, in the Ninth Amendment's reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy." Other battles of this war are the fight for homosexual marriages and making embryos to kill for parts. (I wonder why they can't use apes for those experiments.) This last wave was the last straw which caused a backlash by the so-called right wingers. It caused a backlash and a deeper division, once a cultural conflict, now in the political arena. Votes are cast as weapons fired in this war. Wouldn't it be nice if we could separate governance and be voting for energy plans, highway construction, bigger libraries, etc.? Oh, for the old days -- that never were. It's a lot more fun arguing with somebody, even a friend, about drilling for oil in Alaska as a political topic. It's not so much arguing abortion. There's a thickness in the air. This discussion could be expanded as is obvious. This is glossing over these vast subjects. However, before finishing, let's step back one more pace, and look at the big picture. Is this a social war or a spiritual war? I won't elaborate at all except recommend reading what a historical man named Paul wrote before he was killed on instruction of the emperor of Rome, especially the book ironically named Romans. Remember, victory isn't your candidate winning. Victory is bringing your friends to the truth. |