With the obvious strife and anger displayed by many folks in the media and protests lately, one must ask: who caused this divide? This isn’t a typical disagreement over a favorite sports team, breakfast cereal, or color. People are losing friends, family members, associates, even Facebook pals over what side of an argument you fall on: abortion leads the list, but don’t forget gun rights, student debt, housing prices, energy prices, and many other topics. Former best friends or close family members are now not speaking to each other–not just discussing, but actually HATING people for their views. How did we get to this degree of polarization? Let’s dig.
First off, we have poor long-term memory, if we think severe disagreements, especially politically, are a new thing. Read up on the US Presidential election of 1797. This was truly the FIRST Presidential election, as George Washington was simply universally selected to the position after the First Constitutional Convention in 1787 and 1788 in Philadelphia, PA. From 1789 to 1797, Washington set the stage and flew by the seat of his pants, defining the role of President of the United States, with no manual or direction to guide him. The Constitution defines the office of President, but does not limit that office. Keep in mind how revolutionary this was! A lesser man than Washington may have become a tyrant, ruling until death! Instead, George just wanted to go HOME—to Mount Vernon, and his wife, Martha. Unfortunately, Washington died soon after retiring. He was only 67.
But immediately following Washington’s tenure, bitter arguments arose between Federalists and Non-Federalists. Some wanted a strong Federal government, others wanted things left to individual States, as much as possible. The political rhetoric of the Jefferson/Addams election, won by Addams, was as caustic as anything we’ve seen before or since! Important to note: at this time, government as a whole only impacted a few hundred people nationwide. If you weren’t IN government, it likely didn’t impact your world. There was no form of Welfare, no form of Income Tax, no proliferation of Bureaus or Cabinet posts. Government simply ran the business of the States or Federal government. Even education was handled at the local level. So, political arguments were not usually nationwide in scope, just fights between one political animal vs another, however intense those fights might be.
And life for the typical US citizen would likely be just as unconcerned about what government is doing had government remained as limited as it began. It was a rougher life for most, but they knew the general framework of life: you work, you succeed (excepting slavery, which lasted another 65 years after the 1797 election). No one expected resources from anyone else. In times of dire need, many churches filled the role of caring for the needy: soup kitchens, donated clothing, occasional temporary shelter from severe weather. Noteworthy here is the relative strength of the churches, both in attendance and resources. There was plenty of wilderness to be tamed to the West of the 13 States. Many pioneers took that path, looking to better their lives by growing or ranching in those unincorporated areas. Those areas were hardly easy to tame, but some thought the risk was worth it.
Unfortunately, government as a whole never stops growing. In less than 200 years, the Federal government has grown to such lengths that it is nearly impossible to find an aspect of life it is not intertwined with. Growing slowly, but inexorably. The notion of ‘limited government’ is now just a punchline to an unfunny joke. The Federal government now regulates and controls nearly everything within the borders of the country. First, it now taxes income (so much so, many taxpayers have Federal Income Taxes as their largest annual expense); second, the US Federal government is the largest employer, insurer, landowner, purchaser, spender, and provider of health care. The US government now has generations of people that depend exclusively upon government largess to survive: the Welfare community. So, now nearly EVERYONE is concerned with what government is doing, because it has a direct impact upon their lives: taxes, spending, energy policy, education policy, you name it!
What has government done to increase the anger level of disagreements? Note that the following are just my observations—someone else may come up with different reasons:
1. Take control of education. This has many layers, but specifically, civics and government are almost ignored subjects. And for decades, education has somehow elevated feelings above logic and reasoning. Stupid people are easier to control, and emotional people easier to fool. And no one seems to know what their ‘rights’ are—they just assume they are anything they really want.
2. Government Welfare programs have nearly destroyed the ‘nuclear’ family. Ever since the 1960s, poor women were discouraged to have a man in the house—Welfare payments were almost exclusively paid to single mothers. And payments increased with more children in that home. Welcome to the ‘baby daddy’ culture. In some communities, 70% of all children are born out of wedlock, and ‘playahs’ are celebrated. And without parental discipline, many ‘children’ simply raise themselves–poorly.
3. Government has allowed, if not endorsed, ‘abortion rights’. This cavalier approach to life is likely to extend past unborn children to other inconvenient people—the elderly, the handicapped, or anyone that isn’t deemed ‘necessary’. That the medical profession has so easily violated their Hippocratic Oath is rather disturbing.
4. Government ‘income redistribution’ has created monsters. Taxing the productive, giving those funds to those that do nothing to earn them, has created people with no gratitude for the charity, nor any recognized limits to such ‘earnings’. Ironically, it has given some productive people an excuse to not be charitable, ‘taxes should take care of that, I don’t need to.’
5. Government-run education for the last several decades has created the ‘self-esteem’/’everyone gets a trophy’ mentality. This has resulted in a large chunk of our population that think they are ‘special’ without reason, and think ‘winning’ just happens. These folks also equate words with actions, such that words they dislike ‘hurt’ them as if physically assaulted. This replaces prior generations that knew that hard work, practice, planning, long-term effort, and failure-leading-to-better-performance leads to increased results. Prior generations also stuck to the ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me’. Quite a severe change.
This culmination of attitudes has created entire generations of people that think their opinion is more valid than anyone else, regardless of contradictory evidence and/or history. And these folks are hyper-sensitive to their feelings, as they have been instructed. Couple that with an intense sense of entitlement, you get protestors that burn buildings down whenever they are unhappy with…anything. And the root cause of these attitudes can be laid at the feet of government, IMHO.
Thank you for taking the time to read my article! Feel free to add comments (good or bad) in the box below. In addition, there is a link at the bottom of the article to view other items I’ve written at Global Liberty Media. Enjoy!
