We, Americans are polarized people. We like to define ourselves by so many labels and then go to our chosen sides and entrench there. Then we can see the enemy closer and clearer and we can hear the reaffirming rallying cries of our own camp. It’s tribal, and… it’s small-minded. It’s the mentality of a people at war.. but the tragedy is.. we are all Americans, we are not warring tribes.
At this moment in the war of conservatives and liberals we are engaged in the particularly bloody battle where in our mutually shared myopic vision it would seem one side is calling for the economy to be saved and the other, for the people to be saved.. when those few in the middle would call out to both armies and say, “all your arguments are valid, we must have both!”
The liberals believe the conservatives want the economy above all, but this simply isn’t true. The conservatives are only thinking of the quality of life after the common foe of covid19 is defeated. They are thinking about the preservation of the supply chain. They know that for every 1 covid19 death 700 other Americans have lost their jobs. They know the government cannot feed us all.
The conservatives believe the liberals are risking the structure and system of American life and liberty for the sake of a fraction of the population who is at risk. They believe the liberal will relinquish all liberties and the constitution itself to further flatten the curve, but destroy America in the process. They do not see that the liberal is only seeking a way to protect the weakest amongst us.
However while both sides bitterly war, both armies forget that they are brothers and sisters, who if they will concede on small points and unify, could literally be strong enough to not only save themselves but the world.
But.. they’d rather war. Pride is strong and the enemy of peace.
Just my observation as an American on the sidelines of a war.
