The Amateur Financier

I have a secret to share.  It’s one of the most important secrets in politics, one which most commentators are reluctant to share, but which can, once you hear it, color every political discussion you hear.  The secret is this: Most people, regardless of their political leanings, are logical, rational, intelligent people who have come to their political positions through reasons and rationality.  To put it another way:

Your political opponents are not idiots, delusional, brainwashed, or evil; they simply differ from you in their views.

Now, there are those who are are ill-informed, irrational, or just plain crazy; even though they seem to get an exceptional amount of media coverage (normally because they are much more entertaining than the well-informed, rational, sane supporters of a particular position), the crazy ones  don’t represent all, or even the majority, of the members of any sizable political organization.  Judging an entire position on the basis of a few supporters gives just as biased a view as judging all the members of a race based on a few members thereof.

Limbaugh and Moore: Biased, but apparently talented member of a colonial era band

The Trouble With Political Commentary

So why does it continue to happen?  Well, as mentioned, the crazy, irrational commentators get a lot more press, and make for much more entertaining show hosts for the wide variety of political talk shows out there (at least, for those who agree with the political positions espoused in said shows).    As Cracked notes, for a successful talk show, you need to have both a consistent thesis (liberals are taking your freedoms, conservatives are selling out your freedoms to big business, aliens are kidnapping our puppies, etc.) and commentary on current events; unfortunately, the former tends to overshadow the latter.

Of course, it doesn’t help matters that there are numerous issues that are naturally divisive.  From abortion to homosexual marriage, there are some issues where due to differing religious, moral, and/or ethical views, coming to an agreement that satisfies all parties is difficult, if not impossible.  Some issues, by their very nature, lead parties with different views into conflict (if you believe that life begins as conception, abortion will always be tantamount to murder; likewise, if you believe that women should have absolute control over their own bodies, forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to term will always seem like slavery; finding a middle ground is hard, if not impossible), other issues bring the desires of a minority into conflict with the will of the majority (does the majority of a city or state have the right to prevent a homosexual couple from marrying, or does the couple’s rights to privacy and to do what they wish in their own bedroom over ride majority objections?); in either event, you end up with a situation in which intelligent, well-meaning, educated people disagree.

Once the issue gets into the media echo chamber and distorted by each side in attempts to appeal to their base, it’s even harder for those rational people to create a concensus among all the groups trying to shout each other down.  At best, you end up with at least one group horribly disappointed when the other group gets their way; more often, you end up with everyone disappointed by the eventual agreement that is reached.

What to Do

On a national level, there’s little that one person can do change the current state of politics.  (Unless that one person is someone like Glen Beck or Keith Olbermann; in theory, they hold the kind of power and influence needed to change the entire tone of politics in the country.)  There is quite a bit you can do on the individual level, though, to avoid falling into the worst pitfalls of the political realm, such as:

1) Remember that those who believe different things politically aren’t delusional or evil: The same comment I used to open this article is one of your strongest defenses against falling into the belief that your way of looking at issue, and only your way, is the only logical conclusion one can draw about an issue.  Although it may not always make sense to you, they likely have their own reasons for their particular beliefs.

2) Expose yourself to alternative viewpoints: If you’re like most people, this could be as simple as going to a family reunion and starting any vaguely politically motivated conversation.  In case you would rather not subject yourself to the angry yelling of your relatives (at you or each other), there’s plenty of other ways to find out about viewpoints outside of your own.  If you are a conservative who wants more knowledge of left-leaning views, Alternet is a good place to start; for those of us on the left, I’ve heard good things about RedState.  (Although, honestly, I need to take more of my own advice on this point and try to follow more conservative thinking.)  At the very least, you’ll gain a valuable insight into how your ‘enemies’ think.

3) Realize that you might be wrong: Hard as it might be to admit, we are all fallible.  Perhaps, as you’re doing your research into what other political beliefs, you’ll find information that you hadn’t considered before, or viewpoints that you didn’t hear before.  Your position might prove to be partially or entirely misguided, and you might need alter your views.  If you keep an open mind, who knows; you might just develop a new view of the world around you.

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