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Here’s more musings from VoV about today’s political landscape, divisions among the populace, and we as a country have been here before.<\/p>\n
VoV:<\/strong> This is not an entirely new phenomenon, we\u2019ve been experiencing it to some degree since the founding of the Republic. Many historical examples of serious political divisions exist from the post-revolution period right up to the moment the Union was broken and the Civil War began. Even afterwards there were some serious divisions in the politics of the nation. That\u2019s a reality that is lost at times on those of us whose parents were from the greatest generation, largely because of the extensive and often unprecedented level of cooperation of that generation when they became politicians. Those politicians had worked together in spite of their differences to defeat the Nazis and the Rising Sun and when they came to DC they realized they still had those differences, but they could achieve more through compromise than they could by digging in their heels and refusing to work together.<\/p>\n The level of bipartisan work and basic respect for each other of the greatest generation has alway reminded me of Thomas Jefferson\u2019s basic thoughts on how the Republic should work when one side doesn\u2019t get its way. Jefferson felt that the Lex Majoris Partis (The law of the majority) was an important part of respecting the strengths of the Republic. <\/p>\n “The first principle of republicanism is that the lex majoris partis is the fundamental law of every society of individuals of equal rights; to consider the will of the society enounced by the majority of a single vote as sacred as if unanimous is the first of all lessons in importance, yet the last which is thoroughly learnt. This law once disregarded, no other remains but that of force, which ends necessarily in military despotism.” –Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, 1817.<\/p>\n The \u201cnot my president\u201d crowd certainly represents the people who\u2019ve not learned the lesson as Jefferson had hoped they would. The consequence is indeed what he considered, the law of force with street riots by Antifa, with publicly rude displays such as those recently witnessed throughout the nation against people wearing MAGA hats. There have always been lesser displays as well, the \u201cYou Lie\u201d comment at the SOTU by Joe Wilson comes to mind. But the current displays of division are clearly far larger and ultimately far more grievous in nature. The idea that this man isn\u2019t their president is not only inaccurate but does nothing to advance the business of the people. Some of us libertarians are always happy when the government is gridlocked, but the reality is that bipartisan efforts have resulted in some very good legislation for the nation and some of the worst legislation the result of the politics of division.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not so naive that I expect everyone to join hands and sing, \u201cKumbaya\u201d or \u201cI\u2019d Like To Buy The World A Coke\u201d. It would however benefit the nation to remember that we are stuck here together, that our mutual interests actually do depend on each other even where we differ in policy and viewpoints. We are all bound together through taxation, through geography, through the simple reality this is our nation. We can make it as unpleasant for each other as possible or we could make it somewhat more pleasant by simply understanding some basic realities. The nation was designed to operate this purposely, the founders wanted a house where new ideas would percolate and brew into legislation and then stagnate in the senate often ending there as no new legislation at all. That\u2019s why the house was designed to turn over so often to keep new ideas coming in with the new blood. The senate was the cooling chamber by design. Today both the senate and the house have become filled with re-elected incumbents none of whom offer anything new, and are quite happy to gridlock the government to score points to achieve re-election.<\/p>\n I can only hope the veterans of the GWOT, male and female, who are finding their way to Washington will once again understand the benefits of cooperation with those whose views we don\u2019t hold and whose ideas we find objectionable to craft compromise that benefits their generation and the ones to follow. I am confident that some of them already know the benefit and they will prove invaluable once again in service to this great nation. <\/p>\n For those content to remain divisive, content to remain chained to the politics of obstruction I am reminded of another Jefferson comment made prior to the comments to Humboldt. <\/p>\n \u201cEvery man cannot have his way in all things. If his opinion prevails at some times, he should acquiesce on seeing that of others preponderate at other times. Without this mutual disposition we are disjointed individuals, but not a society\u201d \u2014 Jefferson to John Dickinson, 1801<\/p><\/blockquote>\n That\u2019s all for now\u2026..
\nI\u2019ve been considering for some time the comment, \u201cNot my president\u201d and what that means to a Republic like ours. We seem to have reached a point where the politics of division matter more than the business of the nation. Where our distrust of that other side and its motives greatly limit, or even eliminate, our ability to consider bipartisan efforts to conduct the business of government or to reach compromise on difficult national issues that require action. <\/p>\n
\nVoV<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"