“Well hi, Glimpse. Where have
you been? What have you been up to?”
“Been
around. Coping.”
“Coping?”
“Coping
with Hurricane Sandy. Coping with
suspense about the election. Coping with
suspense about the so-called ‘Fiscal Cliff. You know. The impending barrage of
tax hikes and Federal spending cuts that threaten to sabotage the economy.’”
“!
Since your man won the presidency and you get to watch the rest of us writhe in
pain, I thought you’d be gloating,
“No gloating. Actually I feel sad—not for Mitt
Romney, but for his followers. Some Republicans seem genuinely
worried—convinced the nation under President Obama is skidding into perdition
and political decline.”
“Yeah. Well those GOPers are pretty much right.
You’ve got states approving gay marriage and medical marijuana. You’ve got a
bunch running the government who think giving people food stamps is great, that
creating more and more government dependents and destroying their incentive is
good. I could go on and on. Whatever happened to the United States of America I
loved?”
“For
one thing, the ‘nation you loved’ is likely a myth. Although we sometimes tend
to agree, each of us has a peculiar notion of what the nation was, and is, and
should be. The haunting question is how can our myths, ideas, visions, and
conclusions be so utterly different.”
“I’ve
heard tell that’s because Liberals are descendants of a fallen race. Your
morals became corrupted way back when. Maybe that’s harsh. Anyway, I suppose you have
some fuzzy sociological-psychological explanation for the differences.”
“Right. And if the
explanation seems fuzzy that means you’ve got to look harder.
“The ideas of psychologist
Jonathan Haidt seem right to me. He
authored a remarkable book called “The
Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.” He argues that people don’t come to their
moral conclusions and political positions so much through reasoning as through
intuitive, emotional leanings. His fascinating experiments help demonstrate his
points.”
“Oh,
for heaven’s sake!”
“Listen
a second. Haidt declares there are a six basic notions or concerns we share as
humans: care, authority, sanctity, loyalty, fairness, and liberty. We care
about other people, animals, plants etc. We see need for authority. We believe
some things are special and sacred. We prize loyalty to family, friends, groups
and the like. We want to be free. And we want fairness.
“Because
of the way we’re wired and our life experiences—or nurturing—left- leaning
people and right-leaning people differ on the emotional stress they put on
these various concerns. For example, Lefties feel deeply about care—the
compassionate side of life. Lack of compassion and empathy shocks Liberals to
their toes. Not so much for Righties. They care also, but feel deeply about
being dutiful, say, or respecting authority, and respecting “sacred” things.
Remember how President Obama stirred outrage for not wearing a flag pin in his
button hole? And how about the fight over the ‘sanctity of marriage between a
man and woman?’
“But consider
fairness. It’s big in conversations about avoiding the Fiscal Cliff. Liberals equate fairness with equality.
Everyone “deserves a fair share.” That’s
vital to Lefties.
“Conservatives
think of fairness as ‘proportionality,’ meaning people should get what they
deserve. They should reap what they sew. Everyone likes proportionality, but it’s
a fundamental tenant of existence for many, if not most, Conservatives. That’s where
the notion that taxes punish success comes from—a thought that makes some Liberals’
jaws drop.”
“What you don’t
seem to understand Glimpse, is that my view—our view—of fairness is right. Can’t
you see—equality —that fair share stuff—it’s like… it’s like socialism!”
“No. I can’t see
that. What I can see is that Lefties and Righties have to try and appreciate
the others’ overriding and basic emotional leanings. It’s not a matter of right
versus wrong. Understanding leads to empathy. Empathy leads to compromise and
change.
“In a TIME
commentary (10/22/12), Dr. Haidt concluded:
‘So this is where we
area as a nation…..We all agree that the other side is to blame and that tax
policy can be used to restore basic fairness. We just can’t agree on what
fairness means.’
“The fact is we
must adjust our feelings and compromise. However it’s like that old joke:
“How many
psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? One. But the light bulb has
to want to change.
“What we hope is
that fear of heading over the dreaded cliff is enough to cause majorities among
the left and right in Congress to appreciate the other side’s core feelings and
decide to change. And compromise.”
---Gus Gribbin
