Dueling Ideologies

Opinion

TWO ARMIES OF dueling ideologues dominate the battlefield in the current incarnation of the American Revolution. On one side are those who hold dearly to their liberty, and on the other are those who believe that it is time to sacrifice some liberty for the greater good of the community. Surrender your weapons. Sign the contracts that the government deems necessary. Subordinate parochial interests to the greater good of the nation. Unfetter the government and allow it to grow to care for every community and all its members using its superior resources. 

Thomas Jefferson

Every generation needs a new revolution – Thomas Jefferson

Those who disagree with these modern innovations  wield the Constitution as their principal weapon while their proponents strive to reinterpret it into oblivion. The unspoken right over which they fight, is the right to fail.

Both sides have begun employing violent language in their war of words, and civility is the most recent casualty of the conflict. Hateful words appear in Internet discussion threads with alarming frequency, especially in those attached to news stories. They echo in our homes, our communities, and our houses of government. Unfortunately, these words are heard too often from those who have stepped forward to lead us. They substitute ideology for reason, and rather than accept the simple fact that people of good will may disagree, they attack their opponents rather than their ideas. They accuse those who disagree with them of being liars, cheats, and frauds. 

There was a time when those were fighting words. American Heritage magazine published an excellent article in its current issue describing “American Politics at Ten Paces.

Dueling was common among American politicians up until the Civil War. It was a time when business of all kinds was conducted with a handshake and a person who could not be trusted at their word would lose their livelihood for want of the ability to enter into commercial contracts. To impugn a person's honor was to commit virtual homicide, thus explaining the rush to regain one's honor by risking death on the field of honor. 

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels -- men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, we may never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion – President Dwight David Eisenhower

If today's politicians cannot hear President Eisenhower's words spoken from recent history, maybe we should revert to dueling. If nothing else, it would probably dissuade the faint of heart from mounting soap boxes and, possibly, help cull out the surplus population of politicians and pundits that clutter the media these days.

I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I hear the differences  between them as candidates, but fail to see the differences between them as incumbents. That is why I harken back to past leaders who I wish we could resurrect to help lead us through these troubled times. Although they are no longer with us, their words remain to help guide us.

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it – Thomas Jefferson