We're the really stupid ones.

We all talk about a center-right country, but recent polls make it appear that this country is close to fifty percent conservative and fifty percent liberal in our political views.  Liberals tell us that the top one per cent of this country is not paying it's fair share.  Conservatives tell us that the real problem is that we are spending too much of our national wealth.  I tend to side with the conservatives in this debate, but I argue that we must achieve some sort of consensus as we go forward, else we will flip flop back and forth between the two positions like a fish out of water.  (Fish out of water do not last very long.)

I did not like the Super Committee approach to solving the economic problem facing this country, but it appears to me that it was an accurate reflection of the public at large.  We get up on our high horses and spout dogmatic rhetoric at each other rather than making an honest effort to find common ground.  The public suspects that our government is becoming obese, fraudulent, and ineffective and the wrangling in Washington seems to validate our suspicions.  Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a good situation.  We are moving toward European style economic collapse faster than we want to admit.

Conservatives fervently believe that taxation is a burden that stunts economic growth and we grudgingly resort to it only when absolutely necessary.  We see big government as a drag on the free market that reduces wealth and restricts our freedom.  Liberals see taxes as a way of ensuring that everyone lives a good life and believe that government has to be strong enough to ensure that society is fair and equitable.  We all know what the deal will be - cut government spending and increase taxes.  We can all see it, but we are haggling over the details for political advantage in the run up to November 2012.

In this battle, the combatants are afraid to truly compromise because their political base will accuse them of caving, selling out, blinking, or some other unthinkable political travesty.  Our politicians are in reality too weak to do what is necessary and they mask it with bluff rhetoric that feeds their base the red meat that they require to remain convinced of their own wisdom and ideological purity.  I am critical of the politicians at all levels of our political pyramid, but I am even more critical of us.  We are the ones that elect these people and we are the ultimate source of the stupidity that is endangering our nation.

So what do we do about it?  I suggest that we need to start at the bottom of the pyramid of political power.  A useful first step would be to have a heart to heart talk with a neighbor that holds opposite political views.  Learn about why he or she thinks the way that they do and make an honest effort to see the world through their eyes.  We preach to our children that they should learn about foreign cultures.  Why not practice what we preach?  If you are honest about it, you might even learn something that would help reduce the growing gulf between the two political cultures in this country.  (A word to the wise.  Keep the initial conversation one on one.  If groups are involved the dynamics of the group destroy the honest exchange of ideas and you will end up shouting at each other.)  If you are not willing to do this, don't complain that the politicians are not able to get together to solve the problems that are endangering us all.