Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Perceptions and Common Sense

One of the interesting (and kind of sad) things about listening to Hamilton is how early it was that we became divided into factions. Sure, during the Revolution, most of our Forefathers were on the same side, but once we got down to the business of really running the government, things began to fracture.

It hasn't changed either. If anything, the obsession with personal identity politics has made it worse. People view life and politics and the direction of the country in terms of political bias. Things that seem like 'common sense' to one side look insane to the other. The President called for stricter gun regulations while a militia group (or several of them) have taken over a bird sanctuary. People who support the president see his actions as justified and point to the crazies at the sanctuary as a good example of why. People who do not support the president see the militia as having good reasons, especially when the president is trying to take their guns away.

Is there a reasonable solution that would suit both groups? Probably not. That's the sad thing about how personal identity politics has overtaken reason. I'm not sure there is a way to make it better.

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