But a recent Pew Research Center poll indicates otherwise,
and gives hope that there is considerable room for accord.
In a January survey, Pew found a significant degree of concurrence
between the priorities of self-identified Democrats and Republicans. For
instance, Republicans agreed with six out of ten of the Democrats’ top priorities:
Dem. Rep.
Strengthening the economy 1 1
Improving the job situation 2 4
Improving education 3 6
Reducing health-care costs 4 9
Securing Medicare 5 7
Helping the poor and needy 8 10
On other issues, there is some divergence. For instance, Democrats
ranked “strengthening the military” as 18th while Republicans
thought it far more important at 8th. There are few other issues as
divisive as this, but one is “reducing the deficit” – 2nd most
important to Republicans but merely 11th to the Dems.
In a real shocker, the importance of “strengthening gun laws”
ranked only 18th out of 21 issues across the full spectrum of Democrats,
Independents, and Republicans. This may account for Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid’s refusal to allow Dianne Feinstein’s assault weapon ban to come to
a vote.
But there exists considerable common ground and good reason
to engage in constructive dialogue. While we agree on many ends, what separates
us still is the means.
For instance, Democrats and Republicans agree that our top priority
is to strengthen the economy. But Democrats believe that that should be achieved
by increasing the minimum wage, empowering public employee unions, and
increasing overall government spending, all fueled by towering tax increases on
the rich.
Republicans agree with the goal, but believe that the
Democratic approach is like pouring cold water on a hot bed of economic coals.
Who is right? Who knows. But if the debate begins with the
common goal in mind, then the mechanisms can be developed. How about we use the
crucible of liberty (the fifty states) as a laboratory? We could, for instance,
compare the economic success of big government states versus free market states
(left as an exercise to the reader).
The same approach can be used for each of the important issues.
If we agree on the end goals, then only the means of achieving them need be
debated. And, hopefully, those means can be developed rationally based on experimentation
and evidence, not ideology.
In the end, we must convince our elected leaders to represent
the desires of their electorate. We seem to be far wiser than they.
This might be too generous but while voters have only their own views to consider, politicians always have to consider the next election. Perhaps instead of two large political segments; left and right, or Democrats and Republicans, there are also two other segments: Democrat politicians and Republican politicians. The politician needs to support the positions that result in his re-election. And no politician can ignore the voters from the other party - unless you're a New York City Democrat.
ReplyDeleteFurther distorting the picture is political grandstanding: Politicians either proposing or supporting legislation that won't pass so they can tell the voters they did their best while the vested interests (i.e., big dollar contributors) understand the game.
Politics is innately dirty. It's been that way since the beginning of government. At some times and in some places it's been a bit cleaner but it never lasts. The only way to deal with filthy politics is to make government at all levels less relevent in our lives.