What Do We Want For Our Country?

Is widespread prosperity the goal?

When I was very young, my even younger brother asked our two grandfathers, What is the difference between a Democrat and a Republican?  Now, one grandfather was a Democrat and one was a Republican.  And here we all sat together for this little conversation.  My Republican grandfather answered first.  Well I would say that we all want the same things, but we disagree on how to achieve them.  Obviously he was being diplomatic, but this left a lasting impression, and I more or less believed it for many years.

But I can no longer believe this.  I am 59 years old, and I have been following politics and culture since I was in high school.  If the above sentiment was ever true, it is certainly not true today.  Dear reader, let me ask you:  Do left-of-center types and right-of-center types (I no longer use the party labels) want the same thing?  Perhaps it is just me, but I do not think they do.

So while I appreciate what Peter Boghossian is doing, and I appreciated what Charlie Kirk tried to do, my question is this:  What is the point of these conversations when the goals are so diametrically opposed?  It is kind of like slavery:  At some point, there is nothing left to talk about.

The problem is that not only do we have different goals.  But we have different perceptions of the goals of the other side.

I think we can boil it down like this:

    The right would define their goal as:  Widespread prosperity

    The left would define their goal as:  Universal equality

    But how would the left define the goal of the right:  Prosperity for few

    And how would the right define the goal of the left:  Power for few

So where is the truth?  Well the truth depends on where you sit.  Yes of course I believe in absolute truth.  I believe the right-of-center types are correct, both in the description of their goal and in their perception of the goal of the left.  But any left-of-center type will make the exact opposite claim to truth.

The left may be delusional, but you have to remember that the left is a religion.  And like any religion, their doctrine is their truth.

So like 1860, really, what is there left to talk about?  I am not calling for war.  But it seems to me that we must admit reality.  These two sides will not, and perhaps cannot, be reconciled.  We can have a separation, which has already begun.  I predict this will accelerate.  But a chaotic civil war at some point seems just has likely.

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