In today's political climate, just uttering this phrase gets you labeled "socialist," "heretic," or "liberal." But that's what happens when partisan politics prevails over logic, history, and compassion. Sadly, we live in such a divisive and polarizing time. People have stopped listening to one another and express their opinions as incontrovertible truth. Objective reasoning, honest questioning, and genuine conversation have been co-opted by individual opinions stated as fact, shaming, and hatred of the "other."
I think one reason this mindset has become prevalent is because people
are now finding their identity in their political party. Instead of just
agreeing with some of the ideals of one particular party or the
other...a person's whole sense of self and worth are now wrapped up in
how well this party succeeds or fails. Agreement equals respect. Disagreement equals enemy. There is no middle ground.
You can see how far we have strayed from the original intent when you hear one our our Founding Father's explain the ultimate purpose for government is to uphold the common good: "Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the people; and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men: Therefore the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity and happiness require it." John Adams declared this to be so in the Article VII of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1780.
This no longer resembles the country I live in. Our country now over-emphasizes the profit and interest of individuals, corporations, and the wealthy over the safety, protection, prosperity, and happiness of the general public. Anyone speaking truth to this fact is shot down as "unpatriotic," "anti-American," and "anti-capitalist." The discourse is over before it's allowed to begin.
But I like how state representative, Cory Booker explains, "Patriotism is love of country. But you can't love your country without loving your countrymen and countrywomen. We don't always have to agree, but we must empower each other, we must find the common ground, we must build bridges across our differences to pursue the common good."
Because I'm a mom, I tend to view most things through that lens. When I look at this problem on the micro level of the family, it's easy to see how healthy families always work towards the common good of each other. If the desires of one of the family members dictate what the entire family does or does not do, you will have much resentment, anger, grumbling, and unrest exhibited from the rest of the members. Why? Because it's not fair. We all tend to have this innate knowing of fairness. Whittled down to it's most basic form, that's exactly what the common good is.
We desire to act in a way that's in the best interest of all family members. If everything has to be the parents' way only, we call that authoritarianism. If the children rule the roost, that's referred to as permissiveness. If everyone cowers to the demands of one person, that would be a dictator, and an extremely unhappy home. However, there is one style that is healthy for all involved and we called it authoritative. That's when the parents blend a caring tone with structure and consistent limit-setting. It's about teaching each other to put the other person's needs above your own, to put yourself in their shoes, it's teaching empathy and compassion.
If we always catered to the child who wouldn't stop screaming, or the kid who only wanted goldfish for dinner, or the one who was the most moody, we'd be taking the easy way out. We wouldn't be doing the hard work of parenting which is teaching us how to love each other and be considerate of one another through the hardships and joys of life. The family rises or falls together. We're only as strong as our weakest link. If the weakest link needs all of our resources for a time, we give it.
I think that's a fantastic metaphor for our community and ultimately, government. Government is just a way of managing people.There are multiple opinions about how to do that. Just because someone espouses an opinion that you don't, does not mean you can call that person names. I wouldn't let my children do that; I can't abide by grown adults doing that to one another.
Labels don't define us. There are helpful and hurtful concepts about each of the governing styles. But because we don't educate ourselves about each of the styles, we let fear drive our conversation out of ignorance. We're better than this. If we choose to put in the hard work, we can rise above this petty name-calling, finger-pointing, and alienating environment we're currently fomenting and strive for the common good once again.
