Us and Them
OK, here, based on some genuine efforts at observation, is my understanding of the difference between liberals and conservatives. It is probably not actually news to you, but I, for one, haven’t thought about it quite this way before.
To start, what we have in common is that no one likes to feel manipulated, controlled or used. Everyone wants to feel a sense of agency and ability to build a better life.
That said, liberals, at heart, think of government as the application of the will of We the People. Because there are things we want that none of us can afford to build or buy ourselves, we band together for the sake of the common good to create highways, fire departments, libraries, systems for food and drug safety, etc. Regulations are basically good because they involve looking out for our common good. The process of government has gotten big and complicated because the country and its needs have gotten big and complicated.
Conservatives, at heart, think of the government as an outside force imposed on the individual will. Government, by its nature, is Not Us telling Us what we can and cannot do. And worse than that, Not Us wants to take our money to give it away to people who are Not Us. The valid use the government is to protect us from people who are Not Us, and anything else is being manipulated, controlled and used. Regulations, for instance, are basically some outsider with no sense telling us what we can and can’t do. Government is out of control, and spreading like a cancer.
On the other hand, liberals, at heart, think of corporations as Not Us—giant multinational forces that are manipulating us for their own ends. “Big”—as in “Big Pharma,” “Big Insurance” or “Big Ag”—is by nature evil. If Monsanto (Big Ag) is genetically modifying food crops, then pretty much by definition both GMO and Monsanto are bad, not because we have scientific evidence that GMO crops are dangerous, but because we know that giant corporations are basically out to get us.
Conservatives, however, think of big corporations as basically Us. They are job creators. They are a function of the forces of the market, which are generally to be trusted. If people are getting rich, the market is working, and we should let the market work to create more wealth and more jobs.
How, then are we to talk with one another? It’s pretty clear to me that we all enter into conversations with people from the opposite side of the political spectrum without ever acknowledging our basic assumptions, and so those conversations rarely go very far. Often, we can’t even manage to agree on the facts, so without a common understanding of either underlying values or pertinent facts to apply to those values, there really is not enough overlap to call what we are saying to one another a conversation.
So what now? Give up? Try to strengthen our side so that we are able to simply shout down the people we disagree with? Maybe. But I wonder if we couldn’t find places of agreement. Maybe not among everyone, but among, well, as many as possible. We might agree that work has dignity, and as many people as possible having jobs that allow them to support themselves and their families is good. We might agree that we want our children to get an education that prepares them to not only work but also to live with joy in a changing world. (Although we might well disagree about what that education looks like.) We might agree that everyone should be able to afford health care, without bankrupting either the country or any individual. We might agree that doing what you want is limited when it affects other people, but that regulations should be sensible, and designed with input from the parties that are affected.
But before we do that, we might want to start with telling our stories, and by listening to the stories of others and responding “I hear you.” Maybe stories could build a road into the place where we agree—not perfectly, and not all the time, but maybe enough to build a more perfect union.
- REsources for Living - December 1, 2020
- A Fond Goodbye - December 1, 2020
- REsources for Living - November 1, 2020
