This will be a very short post. But, it is something that has been on my mind lately. And, it has to do with both political parties. Both political parties are driving us into very dangerous ground. Why do I say so?
Well, in the last few days, I have seen posts that are clear and obvious exaggerations of someone’s statements. In every case, the only purpose served by those exaggerations is to throw raw meat unto the already existing divided political landscape. Let me emphasize again that both sides have done this. The danger is that the extreme appeals to tendentious interpretations of what someone has said will lead to a dangerous division in our country. We last saw this during the Civil War (no, it was NOT the War Between the States). In the middle of the 19th century, we reached the point where we are now. Every statement by a politician was taken to its most illogical and tendentious extreme. Every statement just proved that the other side was wrong. We ended up with hundreds of thousands of Americans dead.
Today, we are doing the same thing. Whether it is Guiliani or Obama or Christy or Jeb or Byden, we are taking statements that would normally be interpreted in a reasonable way and taking them to mean something that the author of those statements could not have meant by any sane logical interpretation. The purpose of this is strictly political gain. But, by doing this, we are undermining the very foundation of what Truth is, the very foundation of what a democracy means. In order to achieve very short term political gains, we are again committing the same mistake as those of the mid-19th century. We are assuming that the statements will never lead to actual and real action. The politicians of mid-19th century found out to their horror that words matter.
In this sense, I do agree with those charismatic teachers who argue that the human word has power. Whether it has spiritual power or not is theologically debatable. But, that it has real this-world power is proven over and over again in human history. And, we are treading dangerously close to having our words result in another civil violent result. Our lack of logical honesty for the sake of political gain has led us, yet again, to the brink. There are now “nut-cases” who are ready to descend to violence to defend themselves against a perceived takeover that is not even a remote possibility.
It is time for us to stop being illogical. It is time for us to admit that what we are doing is done strictly for the sake of political gain. It is truly the time for us to think of this country rather than our personal politics. Sadly, all too many have couched their personal opinions in the robe of righteous defense of the Constitution. The problem is that it is merely their personal opinion, one not shared by at least half of their fellow citizens. How do I know this? Because poll after poll shows that our country is divided almost exactly in half over what the current government policies mean.
So, we have a choice. Will we be logically consistent, or will we simply go for the easy, but false, political point?
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