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Originally posted by kang
As for the repeated comment that these kinds of issues are causing moderate liberals to separate themselves from the far left, there is a valid point there. Of course, the same thing is happening with moderate conservatives and the far right.
We seem to be divided more than ever before these days. The pendulum in the USA took a big swing to the right after 9/11. The current administration is a major factor in this as well. Bush, terrorism, Iraq, 9/11, Pat Robertson, abortion, gay marriage, etc, have all brought out the far right. The response to this is that the far left has become defensive and much more vocal. This is what is really starting these “fights.”
Sooner or later, the pendulum will swing back toward the middle. I think most of us agree that is a better place than either the far right or far left. I know I do.
I had a gut feel during the Terry Schaivo case that the pendulum had swung about as far to the right as it was going to get. When the government stepped into that issue, many people, including those on the right, objected. Something like 80% of the people thought that the government overstepped their bounds. The far right lost a lot of moderate conservatives during this issue.
It seems to me now that my gut feel was correct, although we won’t really know for a couple years. The pendulum seems to be hovering where it is right now, if not swinging a bit back towards the middle. It certainly hasn’t gone any further right. Bush is getting his lowest ratings ever, republicans are getting indicted, and more and more democrats are getting elected.
The 2006 elections will be a big indicator. Time will tell. I certainly hope the nation can become much more united than it is now. That will be better for everyone, right and left both.
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Kang, I agree. I prefer life in the "center". I think our only differnce in opinion on this is just where "center" is. I think it has shifted a great deal during my lifetime. I tend to agree with Rick in the seperation of long term trends from short term. Not just in our lifetimes, but over the course of the entire history of "civilized" man, I believe the natural progression has been "left".
The changes fought for and seen by one generation as progressive and liberal become the status quo as they age. Things that were shocking and unnacceptable to one generation as seen as normal by the next. I think we will always progress in that direction as a society, at least on some fronts, when looking at long term trends. Right now, though, there is a push back against the direction liberalism has chosen to take. Granted, there always has been in the past as well, but this time it "feels" different.
I'm not sure our descendants will look back upon today's liberal causes and assign them the same stature of others from our past. In the past, when liberal ideas were brought forth to the populace, there was always initial resistance followed by gradual acceptance. The acceptance came as the populace saw that these ideas made sense, and in most cases were long overdue. These modern liberal causes do not, I believe, pass muster in this regard.
They have been in front of us for a long time, perhaps a generation or more, without notably increasing support. What seems to be increasing is the polarization these issues are causing; very few seem to run lukewarm in their views on these. The support seems to have peaked, and forced to choose, the fence-sitters in the middle choose more often to oppose them than to support them.
The die-hard supporters will keep pounding away at it, but unlike causes of the past, they are building opposition rather than support through their relentless actions. The more they "raise awareness" through their efforts the more it seems to backfire on them. As common folks that were not paying attention before all the hoopla become aware of the details surrounding the more polarizing issues, they have demonstrated they tend to oppose them.