On Medium: There Will be No Great Centrist Dialogue in America
Read on about online tribalism, centrist naivety, bad faith “conservatives,” and why there won't be an effective centrist dialogue between America's political extremes.
Your evocation of FDR trying to engage Adolf Hitler in a productive dialogue cracked me up. Yes, as much as I share a rapport with Maher and Stewart for their intransigent liberal principles, they are naive if they hope we can ever go back to the bipartisanism and good sportmanship that existed in the 2nd half of the 20th century. Bob Dole is dead and even HE succumbed to Trumpism in his dotage. Trying to find common ground with an modern American conservative is as misguided as attempting to talk things out with a schoolyard bully. I suspect that the only cure for conservativism is to give conservatives exactly what they want: a militarized police force, a roll back on all social welfare programs, radical deregulation, and the abolition of free public education. Maybe if they are forced to live with the real world consequences of their philosophy they will finally understand why they are wrong.
It's a tempting thought, but I suspect it, too, is naïve. Conservatives would be more likely to double down and to pretend the consequences of their dominance aren't so bad. We can learn to adjust our expectations to remain content with ourselves, even if objectively we've made disastrous errors of judgment. Anyway, if Trump beats Biden, that's what will happen. For the last century or so, Republicans have always screwed things up, forcing the Democrats to clean up their mess. It's like the circle of life, but in American politics.
Your evocation of FDR trying to engage Adolf Hitler in a productive dialogue cracked me up. Yes, as much as I share a rapport with Maher and Stewart for their intransigent liberal principles, they are naive if they hope we can ever go back to the bipartisanism and good sportmanship that existed in the 2nd half of the 20th century. Bob Dole is dead and even HE succumbed to Trumpism in his dotage. Trying to find common ground with an modern American conservative is as misguided as attempting to talk things out with a schoolyard bully. I suspect that the only cure for conservativism is to give conservatives exactly what they want: a militarized police force, a roll back on all social welfare programs, radical deregulation, and the abolition of free public education. Maybe if they are forced to live with the real world consequences of their philosophy they will finally understand why they are wrong.
ReplyDeleteIt's a tempting thought, but I suspect it, too, is naïve. Conservatives would be more likely to double down and to pretend the consequences of their dominance aren't so bad. We can learn to adjust our expectations to remain content with ourselves, even if objectively we've made disastrous errors of judgment. Anyway, if Trump beats Biden, that's what will happen. For the last century or so, Republicans have always screwed things up, forcing the Democrats to clean up their mess. It's like the circle of life, but in American politics.
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