The Prevailing Problem Mentality
As I watch this unbelievably long and stupid election cycle, and I see so many things people demand from their politicians, I fail to grasp why. I see people express their views of right and wrong only to be shouted down by someone foaming at the mouth about forcing morals or some such nonsense. Eventually, it hit me. Too many people are looking at the entire country in terms of government regulation and control. I believe most do it unconsciously. It comes as instinct to them. They may even think they represent freedom...in the form of more government control over other freedoms that might inconvenience that freedom. I think it breaks down into two categories.
1: The first category of government control assumption strikes in the form of government regulation, control, and spending as a knee-jerk reaction. When a problem presents itself, many Americans no longer ask the question, "Wow, what can I do about it?" and instead ask the question, "When are those politicians in Washington going to do something about it?" It's really scary. Even if the problem is fairly local, they rarely think of the city council or state government, or better yet, solving the problem as private citizens, but instead, the first thought goes straight to Capitol Hill. If a behavior is undesirable, they seek to ban it. If an action is favorable, they seek to subsidize it. In their minds, all things that have any positive or negative bearing on the world in any way must be either regulated, banned, or subsidized by the federal government.
2: The second attitude that causes so much foaming at the mouth is the assumption that all Americans are operating under the first mentality. Express your displeasure at premarital sex and your desire to see people stop practicing it, and you'll likely get a sermon about government control over MY body, even if you never even imply a desire to use the law to enforce your point of view. The idea that somebody might abhor a behavior or product but not seek a law against it is foreign and alien to them, a concept that makes as much sense as liking a food, but never eating it. Thus, any and all expression of your views is seen, to them, to have an implied "...and there should be a law about it," at the end.
Combined, these two attitudes are leading to an environment in which there is no room to live and let live. Opposing viewpoints may not be civilly held by friends. The home for determining who is right and who is wrong is moved from friendly debate to sweeping legislation and appellate courts. It is inconceivable for a Christian and secularist to be friends, as the Christian must always seek to oppress the secularist moralistic, theocratic laws while the secularist seeks to press religion out of the public and behind closed doors only. Those who favor abstinence and monogamy cannot befriend the sexually 'liberated,' as the former will constantly be trying to outlaw all sex and birth control except between a married couple in the missionary position while the latter will seek legislation forcing schools to teach children that, despite anything their parents say, there never has been nor ever will be anything wrong with treating sex like a handshake, as long as you use protection.
In the end, this attitude, more than any one political party or ideology, has led to the division of this country. Where once we had a diverse but united republic where those of vastly opposing views could live without fear of having their views oppressed, we now have a compartmentalized society divided into warring tribes using the bludgeon of the law to attempt to force all others to their point of view. While some tribes are more guilty of this than others, all are guilty and are convinced only of the guilt of everyone else.
There are three levels of guidelines to dictate your actions outside of your personal agenda. Those three levels of guidelines are: legal, ethical, and moral. Until the country as a whole sees that, of the three, legal should be as loose as can be allowed without anarchy, while moral should be something most people must hold themselves to, rather than an all-reaching federal government, then the country can never truly heal.
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Originally Posted by typomaniac
