{"id":93,"date":"2020-10-22T15:43:17","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T15:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=93"},"modified":"2020-10-22T19:49:27","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T19:49:27","slug":"overzealous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=93","title":{"rendered":"Overzealous"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recently, rather surprisingly, on the Morning Joe show on MSNBC, I caught a wonderful discussion that for me provided real insight into what has happened with our politics. I say \u201csurprisingly\u201d because both MSNBC and its morning show are normally bastions of liberalism. That particular morning the \u201ctalking heads\u201d featured conservative Rod Dreher and his recent book, Live Not By Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dreher, senior editor and blogger at The American Conservative talked about what he called the \u201csoft<\/em> totalitarianism\u201d that he sees today in the United States. Apparently he has interviewed immigrants from the former Soviet Union who express fear that the United States is exhibiting similar signs of the totalitarianism they experienced in Russia.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, Dreher focuses on the behavior of American universities to brook no dissent to the views of the liberal faculty and many students. This is exemplified by the refusal to allow speakers who challenge their orthodoxy and the left-of-center politics of faculty members. This situation does not stand by itself but is represented across contemporary society by mainstream media, politicians, and many community standards. This orthodoxy includes the new BLM and LBGT movements, the acceptance of same-sex marriage, and a \u201cpolitical correctness\u201d that increasingly dominates the landscape of personal freedoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What struck me was that much of this appears to be true, so much so that we have two competing philosophies or orthodoxies that have collided to create the \u201ctake no prisoners\u201d behavior that characterizes our politics today. In short, both the left and the right are so overzealous in their behavior and actions that no solution, compromise, or coming together can take place. The supreme danger is that the center, i.e. moderates, both left and right, are being excised from the arena without a seat at the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the participants, Eddie Glaude, professor of African American Studies at Princeton, took umbrage at Dreher\u2019s words in defense of his book. And Glaude, who happens to be Black, became increasingly emotional in challenging Dreher. For me, the whole thing distilled the meaning of what is going on now and what has happened in American politics for at least the last 25 years. BOTH SIDES ARE RIGHT!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My time in colleges and universities was spent smack dab in the middle of this scenario\u2014the feminist movement, affirmative action, and a political correctness with a hair trigger. I have seen and personally experienced tragedies and travesties brought on by overzealous authorities. And subsequently during the twenty years since my retirement, I have witnessed the overzealous pursuit of those who oppose those policies and actions favored by the left, be they the 1973 Roe decision or the more recent case of the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what now? There seem to be two truths. On the one hand, there are those on the right who see their freedoms and rights threatened and those on the left who feel that their freedoms and rights have never been recognized. Those on the right fervently believe that if we are true to the  Constitution and the market is allowed free play, then eventually everything will fall in place for all, according to the Adam Smith model. Contrariwise, the left believes if things are left as they are, they will never realize their goals; in their view, that is the problem. How long do they have to wait for a self-correcting mechanism to fix things, how many years and decades do they have to wait for justice? History tells us that this approach does not always work for there is no \u201cperfect or infallible\u201d system. The \u201cinvisible hand\u201d does not always make things right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is much more to be said about all of this, of course, but right now the two sides continue on a collision path. In the interim, we need to try and bring back the centrists both left and right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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