nation. I believe these are the topics we need to think about and manage if we are
to move forward with confidence and success as a society. Whatever happens, we
will be moving forward in time – the issue is whether we are moving in a healthy
direction or one which takes us into dangerous places.
Yesterday I talked about spirituality as being one of the key issues we deal with as a people all the time. Some are religious in traditional ways, others are religious in non-traditional ways, others are not religious, still others have spiritual understanding that works for them but does not conform to formal lines of dogma or creed. This is an important issue because it determines if we are going to be open to differences among us; or if we will fight differences and drag our public discussions into uncivil discourse that keeps us apart from healthy problem solving in other arenas of our life together.
Today I explore political ideology. It is a major bone of contention in the news, at cocktail parties, in pundit media columns, and it generally forms lasting barriers to agreement throughout our national life. I consider the state of our national political disagreement a dangerous diversion. The arguments keep us from having fruitful discussions that build solutions for our common problems.
Similar to the spirituality topic, our openness to one another’s political beliefs will help us understand each other and accommodate the differences. It helps us tolerate disagreement. It steers us away from animus, emotional over-reaction, incivility and obstinacy – all barriers to finding ways to peacefully and respectfully co-exist.
One of the key challenges of political ideology is understanding the role and utility of government. For smaller entities – fire, school, and library districts, as well as municipalities and counties – the roles are basic and easily understood. When we move to state and national government entities disagreements are encountered. Philosophy, religion and values systems magically are included in the discussions and that inevitably leads to serious disagreements which sidetrack what the government’s role is actually about in the first place.
I believe that government is basically good. It does the work of the public that no other entity can do. For example, the federal government provides the following:
·
National defense: Army, Navy, Marines and Air
Force; these service branches keep our nation safe from external attack through
the coordinated planning and management of the Pentagon. It is under dual
civilian/military control
·
National Justice system: courts, laws, and legal
systems that define the legal standards by which we all live; coordinate
standards among the states and their legal systems
·
Conducts foreign affairs and builds working
relationships with the world community to ensure peace and tranquility for our
peoples and friends of our nation. Partners with United Nations to build global
understanding
·
Commercial trade and business standards
throughout our nation and with our foreign trading partners as well. Partners
with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to assist trading partners
and developing countries in full trading partnership with the rest of the
globe; builds expanding markets for our nation’s producers of goods and
services
·
National banking and currency system; regulates
banking system; protects economy from severe disruptions and unsavory business
practices; sets monetary policies that help manage the economy for healthy
stability and growth
·
Health, Education and Human Services work sets
standards and protective regulations on health initiatives, conducts seminal
research on health and disease matters, regulates the safe manufacture of
pharmaceuticals, monitors and supervises education standards and access to
education appropriate to individual needs and abilities, and protects the halt,
lame, handicapped, elderly and perpetually ill citizens who are unable to care
for their own basic needs.
Over time public beliefs shift and challenge the role of
government: what is appropriate, what is not appropriate, what is affordable or
not, and so on. There are those who do not wish to subsidize anyone, or people
who don’t agree with them in many areas. There are people who think the
government should do more. What is the happy medium here? What are the
standards we should define and implement? Should we compromise or should we
stick to principles?
I believe the government is basically a good thing. It is a necessary productive tool we need.
The problem is the level of trust we have for our government and its operation.
Many people are upset with Congress, the Supreme Court, the White House, and/or
with any entity of the federal government you can think of.
I believe the trust issue belongs to the voters. We have
elected people from whom we do not demand accountability, and we continually
elect or re-elect people to seats of power whom we do not ultimately believe
in. Whose fault is that? Ours. How do we redress the situation? Get involved.
Do the research. Run for office. Support people you know and trust. Campaign
for them and financially support their candidacies.
There’s more to do here than what has been simply stated
above. But we need to start somewhere. This seems as good a place as any.
When I first suggested Political Ideology as a key issue, I
also provided the following:
Political Ideology – What we Think
and Why it Matters
Government:
understanding its role and utility
Campaign
finance reform: government does NOT belong to the highest bidder
Ideology
relies on education; refute opinion with fact
Healthy
discussions build strong nations
Bigotry is
not an American ideal
Obviously I have only addressed the first line. The other
lines need our attention, too. I will get to them. But for now, let’s stick
with the first line. Your thoughts please?!
January 12, 2012
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