After deliberating, I have decided that when we break down the conceptual divide in this country to its simplest state, there are two types of people who pay attention to politics.
The majority are the idealists who believe Utopia is possible. They see it as potential reality, completely ignoring the economic realities of the situation. It's like they've got their fingers stuck into the sides of their heads and are perpetually chanting lalalalala because they don't want to take the time or make the effort to step back from their emotional idealism to look at the economic reality of what IS.
Then there are the realists who realize Utopia, as an ideal, is great, but the reality is that we're never going to get there.
The problem is money. It is, well and truly, the root of all evil, but it's a necessary evil and you ignore the reality of it at your peril.
The idealists in this country (America) are listening to Bernie Sanders and practically wetting themselves, not looking at the real world with a speck of question. They hear the words 'fair' and 'equal' and all the feel-good declarations but do not once, not a single time, stop to ask 'how'. As in 'how are we going to pay for all of this?' 'How are we going to legislate, across the board, what works economically for all businesses - big and small?'
From where I stand, on the reality side of the fence, it's emotion driven, not logic driven.
Where will the money for all the programs the 'progressive' (socialist) left come from to pay for all the things they want to give away?
They want a 'living wage' as the minimum. $15.00. Okay, so we pay all entry-level, just starting out workers $15 per hour. What's that going to do to the cost of goods, materials and services? What is it going to do to the already high unemployment rate if businesses cannot afford to hire workers because it just isn't economically feasible?
It means that all of those goods, materials and services will cost more. They don't see the vicious cycle they're perpetuating. Raise the wages, raise the prices of everything, 'no one' can afford everything, so raise the wages again, and repeat, endlessly.
This morning, on a thread over on Authonomy, I asked some hard and fast questions - and I haven't got any hard and fast answers. I told them I don't want / won't read external links. I want them to persuade me. Two people have responded. One tried to answer the questions, but their information is faulty. The other threw out a bunch of links. I still responded to a couple of 'answers' he gave me - one of which said:
"You're asking for an argument based on common sense, Philippa, but you cannot argue such complex matters on such a basis."
Huh? That I don't get. Should I argue based on pure emotion? How does that work? Fact provides reality. Reality tends to lead to commonsense. At least it does in my world.
I don't know that I'm going to get anything that's going to persuade me, because I'm pretty intractable. But it will be interesting to see if getting them to step away from the 'feel-good-ism' of Utopia will have some effect on their thinking.
Personally, I am conservative. Grass-roots and more of a Constitutionalist than anything else.
I do not like the Republican or Democrat political ideals because I don't think you can squeeze a hair between the two parties anymore. They talk and talk and spout different things - what they think the people want to hear - but, fundamentally, they're no different. When they get into office, they all start doing precisely as the other party does. The only difference is they use different words. Both say this and do that - often against the best interests of the people they're in Washington to represent because they are owned lock, stock and barrel by the special interest groups - the PACS and activists and business owners - who paid for their campaigns.
As for electing Bernie Sanders: The definition of insanity because the American people will get another politician doing what all politicians do.
Best~
Philippa
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