The Eventual Cost of Binary Opinion.

In the wake of the Las Vegas shooting tragedy, the NRA has publicly, and for the first time in my imperfect memory, come out in support of regulating the use of “bump stocks” to make semi-automatic weapons more similar to fully-automatic weapons.  How has this entreaty been received by many on the left?...They have pretty much ignored it and continued their hysterical, misinformed, and intentionally deceitful effort to basically outlaw all gun sales and confiscate those that are already out there.  Now to be fair, there are those on the right who feel sufficiently threatened by any new gun control effort that they automatically oppose anything associated with regulating the sale and possession of firearms, no matter how practical the proposal might be.  Their understandable, but inadequate, rationale for this knee-jerking is their argument that any new gun control regulation represents the anti-gun lobby getting their foot in the door in preparation for the final battle…total and absolute control of firearms. 

This latest dust-up between pro and anti gun forces is in many ways a microcosm of the overall state of political affairs in our nation.  Whether it is media coverage, late night television, sports reporting, or extracurricular (and curricular) affairs in our school systems K thru PhD; our society and culture is polarized to such an extreme that there is little if any tolerance on either side for the other side’s position.  It is all or nothing, win at all costs, with us or against us, us against the world, damn the torpedoes (subtle tribute to TP&HB) and fight to the end for what and only WHAT we happen to believe.  What was once, and not too awfully long ago, a 35/35/30 split in our electorate with the last 30 representing the middle has now devolved into what is likely closer to a 45/45/10 split.  Do you doubt this?  Why do you see presidential approval figures for Bush/Obama/Trump appear to be capped at 45-50 percent?  Every radical cause,  no matter how illogical or rigid, seems to be able to find some type of foothold in that 45 percent of the electorate that will reliably support anything left or anything right.  The middle ground has become a deserted wasteland.  People are finding out that they can carve out a nice little niche inside of that 45 percent on either side of the political divide.  Our center is disappearing and what will be the price of that transaction?

The first and most obvious result is the paralysis and dysfunction it has wrought in our government.  With so many nuclear option scores to settle, we are inching closer and closer to that time when all legislation…ALL legislation…will be passed on a party-line vote.  Now before you stand up to cheer and shout “In your face, McConnell!”, you better think this thing through.  The one overriding WDC principle that we can all agree with is that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  Do we really…really…want Republicans or Democrats to have carte blanche over everything governmental, foreign and domestic?  Think about exactly who it is that controls the two national parties these days.  Do you think the deep pockets of the party sponsors and donors pull the strings or do you think that our politicians are driven by some form of allegiance to their constituents?  If the ultimate nuclear option is detonated, those who control the lawmakers will control the law.  Those who control the law will control the society.  Do the terms KGB or Oligarchy hold any meaning for you?  Our society and culture would lurch from one type of state to another; the other being a polar opposite of the status quo.  No ally would be able to trust our word or commitment to any position.  Business and commerce would be forced to gamble on what the future environment might hold for their enterprises.  We ourselves would be in a constant state of wonder about the world we would be leaving our children to grow up in.

The most infamous accomplishment of our least effective President in my lifetime, Barack Obama, was to further divide and solidify the racial divides in our society.  Everything he touched and performed was racially tinged and his demeanor never wavered from a self-righteous and condescending manner that ultimately was designed to divide and conquer.  To its detriment, and ultimate demise if not corrected, the Democratic Party has continued with this philosophy.  Our culture and citizenry has taken this approach to almost every aspect of our daily lives.  Families and long-time friendships have literally dissolved over Trump disputes.  The level of vitriol and downright poisonous seasoning in political discourse has reached new and disgusting depths.  The mainstream media, to their obvious discredit, has leapt Full Monty on board with this effort and sacrificed decades of public trust and credibility for a few moments of Trump-bashing giggles. 

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Presidents will come and go; Congress will tilt from the right to the left to the right to the left; and when an occasional national consensus is reached on an issue of common concern, our government should respond to that consensus.  As is appropriate, that response should be executed by the Congress, the Executive, or the Judiciary.  But the world we are living in today; the politically-corrupted environment that has contaminated every aspect of our daily lives, illegitimately demands this response when a majority (50+ percent) of a minority (45 percent) feels a sufficient level of certitude in their wisdom to make rules for the entirety of society.    Presidents get weary of the heavy lifting required by the normal order of legislating and issue Executive Orders from on high; Federal  Judges short circuit the standards of lawmaking and civil order by injecting their personal beliefs into their opinions and verdicts; individuals and organizations throughout our culture have thrown away any semblance of respect and decorum, trashing those who dare to disagree with their thoughts and building blatantly deceitful straw men to distort the views of their opposition. 

Whatever his motivations might be, however insincere he may present them, and however oratorically awkward or inappropriate they may seem; President Trump has tossed out a few invitations in the direction of the Democrats to sit down and discuss some compromise on legislative issues.  Somehow…someway…the Democrats need to find a way to hold their club together and, at the same time, sit down and negotiate in good faith with a President they don’t like very much.  The Republicans in Congress have to come to grips with the fact that their majority is insufficient to power drive their agenda through the legislative process.  If we continue to see the 10 percent in the middle shrink; if we see continued support for the ultimate nuclear option; and if we continue to see our society cleaved by raw emotion and irrational opinion…well, our great nation is going to be but a shadow of what it once was and could be again.