A modification of the old spiritual song, <"Give Me That Old Time Religion," seems to capture the political climate of today. In polite circles it is no longer acceptable to hate someone because of their race or ethnicity - this generally leads to immediate shunning. And of course you can’t hate someone because of their sexual orientation, even if it involves animals. Gender, physical appearance - almost nothing is acceptable as the basis of hating someone (this is a good thing – I’m all for less hate).
However, there is one area where in polite circles it is still acceptable to really reach deep down into one’s emotions and truly hate someone – spitting mad, eye-bulging, blood-pumping hate – and it is politics. Hate is presently practiced much more by the left than the right but neither has clean hands in this kerfuffle (thanks James Taranto). Interestingly enough, many on the left also include Catholics and evangelical Christians as acceptable targets of hate but that is another article. Listen to the national Democrats and the blogosphere, the amount of vicious hate spewed is rather amazing. Try substituting the words right-wing (or left-wing), Republican, George Bush, etc, with black or woman or gay and see how the venom sounds now. Would you say that in polite company? I doubt it.
So why is it acceptable to spew vengeance on someone whose political beliefs differ from your own? Shouldn’t the marketplace of ideas –- with facts and results guiding us –- settle these disputes? If there really is the truth (and there is), shouldn’t our collective efforts be spent attempting to discover it?
We are playing a sap's game and everyone who isn’t a politician or employed by their minions is a sap – that’s most of us folks. The hyper-partisanship only helps politicians. This type of strategy is used by dictators and tyrants around the globe. They set one group hating another and use this hatred to further increase/retain their power.
Article comments
1 - Bliffle
Some critics ascribe excessive partisanship to the current crop of republican pols, even calling them 'sore winners'. Maybe true: I don't remember this level of partisanship being around even in the LBJ days.
2 - Dave Nalle
Time and again it seems like it's Republican leaders who are willing to start the process of compromise and Democrats who spit in their faces for it, so at least at the top the hate seems stronger on the left. But I think everything is stronger when you're the party that's out of power. Being the winner weakens your rhetorical position.
Dave
3 - Nancy
You are of course referring to famous Republican compromisers like Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Dubya Bush, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfield, Tom DeLay, Bill Frist ... ?
4 - Bing
NO I think he's referring to those great compromisers on the left like John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden who keep screaming that Sam Alito is an extremely right wing and out of the mainstream in spite of the fact that most of the polls show over 50% of the American public believe Alito should be confirmed and will be a good justice.
5 - Dave Nalle
Nancy, most of those you mention aren't in the legislature at all. Frist IS a proponent of compromise, but I'm actually talking about people like Arlen Specter and John McCain who actually make an effort to bridge the gap between the parties.
Dave
6 - Scott
I believe if you look closely at everything Congress passes and does, you'll see a fairly good deal of bi-partisanship...it's usually on the bigger matters that get the national attention where they tend to split down party lines.
7 - Baronius
Bliffle, the politics of LBJ's era were as nasty as any time in our history. That was the time of Hoover, the Chicago convention, and assassinations.
Nancy, Cheney was known as a peacemaker in his House days. As Dave notes, higher-ups in the Department of Defense (Rumsfeld and previously Wolfowitz) aren't in political jobs; their goal is to hone America's killing machine.
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Dave, off the subject, I just saw the latest Mustang, and you're right. They finally got smart and incorporated the old look.