In the course of American history, if either liberals or conservatives disappeared entirely from the American scene, leaving the right or left to pursue their best ideas and most flawed excesses alike, this country would be in far worse shape than it is today.
And anyone who thinks that completely vanquishing "the other side" in American politics would produce good results for very long is naive at best...
This seems obvious to me, but I thought I'd state it since a lot of people disagree, or at least talk and act as if they do.
Care to name who these "lot of people" are? Or cite an example? I'm sort of at a loss for what bloggers, thinkers, writers, or partisans I interact with who hold such thoughts. Yes, generally speaking I think the Republican ideas are misguided and ill-informed but that doesn't mean we'd be better off with no conservative thought in American politics. And I can't think of anyone who disagrees, but maybe Conor can name these "lot of people" and enlighten us.
2 comments:
"[A]nyone who thinks that completely vanquishing "the other side" in American politics would produce good results for very long is naive at best"
I'll bite.
Most specific political issues are eventually won or lost, with one side vanquishing the other. Abolitionists and civil rights proponents vanquished supporters of slavery and Jim Crow laws. Supporters of no fault divorce vanquished supporters of fault based divorce. Advocates of building battleships with big naval guns lost. Supporters of a colonialist world order lost. Opponents of equal legal rights for women lost. Supporters of alienation of affection lawsuits have been virtually vanquished. Advocates for strongly regulatory state corporation codes were defeated. Advocates of a fault based system of compensation for work related injuries were defeated. Nobody advocates for monarchism, or having the eldest sons receive 100% of a decedent's estate, or denying individuals the right to disinherit their children. The kind of laws that the Lochner Court held unconstitutional are commonplace now and advocates of a generalized freedom of contract were defeated. Proponents of a narrow reading of the authority of Congress to enact laws regulating commerce, taxing and spending were defeated. Opponents of widespread used of equity investor owned business corporations in organizing the economy prevailed. People who thought interest was immoral lost. Advocates of strict liability in tort for defective products won. Prohibitionists were defeated. The movement to ban dueling prevailed.
The only reason that a dialog between the right and the left is ongoing is because the goal posts are constantly in motion as the contentious issues between them change. The slavery debate becomes the Jim Crow debate becomes the affirmative action debate. Political liberalism and conservatism are inclinations of which side one might favor as new issues arise that don't actually come with an eternal substantive agenda. Most of the political issues faced by prior generations have received bipartisan consensus resolutions today; we are dealing mostly with issues that they never considered.
CORRECTION "Opponents of widespread used of equity investor owned business corporations in organizing the economy LOST."
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