IDEOLOGY
June 9, 2005
There seems to be an ideological war going on in the media, essentially between Republicans and Democrats. The country seems at times to be virtually split down the middle. I'm not trying to be melodramatic about it, but think I can actually sense the beginnings of a civil war.
If you watch any television you can't help but pick up on this. It seems that we're constantly hearing the members of one side bashing the members (past and present) of the other. I can't help but wonder what exactly they're bashing each other about.
Is it just a power struggle? If so, what sort of power is it that they cherish so much that they feel the need to indulge in this more or less constant bickering? What precisely are they fighting about?
The only answer that makes any kind of sense seems to be centered around resources. In other words, if you look past the barrage of words, coming from both camps, you sense that they both want to control the resources.
Resources are at the very heart of economics. It may be somewhat oversimplified, but it is nonetheless true that Economics is essentially the study of resources and how to manage them, i.e., dole them out.
One gets the impression that Republicans and Democrats don't care about the resources in the same way. Republicans want to use them, in an almost cavalier manner, with no apparent regard for their limitations. Democrats at least posture in such a way (whether they actually mean it or are simply trying to get votes is debatable) that suggests that they are concerned about the limits that resources are subject to.
Republicans, for example, thumb their noses at all the talk of global warming, or violating a pristine wilderness to drill for oil.
Both sides have an uncanny knack for manufacturing excuses. One doesn't know what to believe. Are we truly experiencing global warming or not? How could an average person know for sure?
It's easy to say that the war in Iraq is also about resources. But is it? There is no question of the importance of oil. But you hear just as much talk about the threat of terrorism. But even that is related to resources.
When you distill it down to its finest essence, what did the terrorists do on 911? They attacked a very high-profile economic center. Although they don't quite say it in these terms, one gets the impession that Middle Eastern terrorists are not exactly thrilled by the way we manage planetary resources. They surely feel that we are maneuvering (and rather selfishly) in an effort to gain as much control of them as possible. They don't care that we may have more economic savvy then they do. They feel that the resources are theirs to use just as much as ours. They are especially sensitive about it when it clearly looks as if we're using - and quite heavily- resources from their own backyard.
There is only one way to get past ideological warfare, through recognizing the essential worth of all humans beings as human beings, regardless of their ideological positions. Whatever our ideology, we should never posture in such a way that our message might suggest that someone else (as a person) is not okay. Everyone has an equal right to be here. But it seems that (thanks to economic systems) everyone doesn't have a right to share all the stuff that's here.