Whether we like it or not, we are generally a centrist nation. We may veer to the left or the right for awhile, but ultimately we end up back somewhere in the middle. True, it may be the the vocal extremes who though bombast and loony sound bites get all the news coverage. But at the end of the day, it is the center that generally rules.
Contrary to media sensationalism, most of the country is a lot less concerned with the sexual preferences of others, ethnic origins, dietary lifestyle, or must other things that have become a frenzied fetish for the political action groups. Essentially, it breaks down to those who are doing business and those who are not. With special regard to small businesses, in an economic catastrophe nobody has the time to fret over things that aren’t of direct concern to the main objective, making money and staying afloat. Whether same sex partners live together or whether your vendors or clients are of a different ethnic persuasion than you are, makes little difference to most people. A shocker, I know. But true.
This is not to say that people don’t have their biases. They do. What I am saying is those biases and how they effect actual performance are way overblown. For the most part people keep their biases to themselves and try not to let them get in the way of the more pressing issues of the times. Most people are just too busy working or running a business, in other words, keeping their heads above water, to pay attention to these relatively minor distractions. They may grouse over the government regulations, taxes, and the high price of everything, but for most people things are at they are in it makes far less sense to go parading around in a frenzy than it does to take care of business at hand.
Most of these are centrists or independents. Being true cultural Americans, they adhere to the historic skepticism concerning dogma and demagogues. They can’t get all that worked up about issues over which they have little control. Most are far from believing the great leader, whoever that is, will be laying great solutions at their feet. Being culturally pragmatic, most are aware things are terribly screwed up and no one can render solutions in a sound bite. The empty heads and empty souls that pass before the cameras as our representatives are regarded with scorn. Nobody trusts the system and most of the saner souls are fishing around for new ways to approach business, work, and their overall lifestyle.
But centrists are not without their foibles. Let’s face it, the center is usually boring. It is pragmatic and consistent and not prone to obnoxious drama of the polar elements. You can’t be a centrist and follow the teachings of the Orthodox Hysterical, that mishmash of segments from the far left and right. At one time the polar elements actually brought something to the table. But now for the most part they are useless. Splinter groups right and left, often bore theories and practices that were far ahead of their time. The forty-hour work week, now lamented as it has transited into the sixty hour work week, union bargaining, social security, and other programs would not be in practice had it not been for the more extreme. There were defense policies and seemingly outlandish measures that in their amoral fervor managed to keep this country secure through periods like the Cold War. But that was then and this is now. Industrial breakthroughs and great expansions wouldn’t have happened had not the pathological had their industrial way.
In today’s America, the extremes serve more to justify an agenda and work best with bombastic slogans and denigration that serves only to further polarize the country. At one time extremists would be willing to die for their principles. Today, they are only willing to whine for their principles. Big difference.
The result is a cultural stalemate. The left feels it has been forced to confront an insane, greedy corporate power grab that lurks like the Eye of Sauron in the Lord of the Rings. It is evil and threatening to all of humanity. It is oblivious to the needs of the poor and threatens the dismantling of America’s middle class. It gives heartache and takes jobs. The government, they believe, has all but left them deregulated and impotent, left to their devices of which there are few.
Social wellbeing of a person can be known only tadalafil best buy when one goes for sexual intercourse. Incontinence This is the sudden passing out viagra pfizer prix of urine. It directly stimulates the hormones, balances the cheapest levitra testosterone level, increase the blood flow to the penis is affected. Since Ayurveda uses natural elements, its medicines come free of cheapest levitra http://www.fundacionvision.org.pa/flashxml/bannerrotatorfx-centro/ any kind of side effects. The right believes that the government is far too strong. On the poor side of the right wing they believe that government is draconian with regulation and taxes, that it limits personal freedom and neglects the hard working in favor of those who cannot get out of their own way. On the rich side of the right, the general belief is the government inhibits free trade and obstructs the free marketing system. The government inflicts heavy taxes and forces unbearable regulations. In all the government is too powerful, except of course when the same corporate interests collapse the economy and need the government for bailouts in order to stay afloat. And then, for five minutes, you don’t hear quite as much about government intrusion. Such are the vagaries of dogma.
The left thinks the right is filled with a bunch of bigots and racists, backwoods hooligans who want nothing better than to wear their guns to town hall meetings. The right thinks the left is effete and weak and pays more attention to the fringe elements and less to the average person. There are assorted disputes over social issues and economic issues. The left believes it is best when people all come together for one major purpose. The right generally wants to be left the hell alone.
It is an odd place to be for us Americans. This has been historically a country where people don’t like being told what to do. We have been a violent people and acted out against what we see as draconian oppression from government and civic groups. The Boston Tea Party was in fact a real lawbreaking affair that turned heads and galvanized the public. The Shays Rebellion was but one shining example when the locals lashed out at what they deemed oppressive taxes, heavy debt, and the seizure of property. No letters of protest and misspelled signs on that one. They took up arms and had a brief uprising to demonstrate they simply had enough. It didn’t turn out real well for Shayes and Company, but that is a different part of the story. Prior to the America Revolution, more than a few tax collectors and tone deaf bigwigs were treated to a tar and feathering and a trip on a rail. The Revolution itself was about taxes and not taking any more crap from oppressive authority.
There was the Whiskey Rebellion, again about taxes, and it can be argued, the Civil War. There were the labor strikes of the twenties and thirties, and the anti-war demonstrations of the sixties. There were brief and aborted uprisings against what was perceived as the system. There have been bombings and shootings and riots have gone to the heart of this culture. Hell pops out of the woodwork, and then somehow we return to a margin of sanity.
But today we living on mood elevators and propaganda about how we are supposed to behave. We are not even supposed to be angry, and we look at those who do express their outrage as a bunch of oddballs. We conduct wars around the world and do whatever necessary to protect what we consider our way of life. We don’t seem to mind, as one friend said some years ago, “pulling the lungs out of any country that seeks to prevent us from getting what we want,” but yet when we are raped and robbed by the powers that be on our very own soil we seem pretty passive about it. Europe has had demonstrations and uprising because some of their entitlement perks and benefits are being diminished due to budgetary constraints. Here we lose jobs, factories, houses, and our self-esteem, and we mainly piss and moan and then go have our double mocha latte with a Zoloft chaser.
So the extremists pull at our emotions and try to lead us into some aborted attempt at rebellion or some semi-mystical incantation about hope and change. We know it is bullshit, and we grow fearful when those around us buy into the doctrines that appear the quick fix. We look for the fulcrum where we can find stability. The pundits and demagogues may not make any sense and their points of view may only be based vaguely in factor or historical context. We try to eschew them, knowing they are meager hors devours for the vast multi-media marketing platform that peddle millions of books, punditry, and speaking engagements to the dogmatically pious, vacuous, and culturally bereft.
Eventually, radical dogma dilutes itself through countless repetition so every utterance from any extreme seems like another ho hum experince backed by tepid action. Or, to quote Shakespeare, and you can never go wrong quoting Shakespeare…”It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing.” In time we take into account the new socio-economic landscape and return to the roots of culture, which is pragmatism above all else. Find out what works and then employ it. This of course presents a disconnect to the true believers as there is nothing like the pragmatic overview to piss on the parade of any radical dogma.
It is no small wonder that Michael Bloomberg and others are working to unify the centrist candidates. Or for that matter you can sense it when Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert launch a “Return to Sanity” rally. Sanity. What a concept for the country born in the Age of Reason. Perhaps the brand new trend will be eschew dogma, idiocy, and rigid agendas. In short, be sane. Be practical. See what works.
