How is Your “Tolerance” These Days
There’s lot of feathers and bullets flying around today over the many lifestyle, cultural, and religious dogmas as embraced by people far and near. I’m not sure that there has ever been such a smorgasbord of clashing ideologies in the past as compared to today’s free-for-all. Let’s look at what is rocking our boat right now here in the good old USA. And then let’s see how well we “tolerate” those ideas and practices we don’t agree with. The two culprits dividing our citizenry are: one, political/economic; and the other, cultural/religion. First, the poltical/economic struggle: this endless and tedious election season has opened up chasms with depths seldom seen in the past fifty years. The intense demands for “equality” to be the standard in every facet of our society – both economic and cultural – has gained a significant following this past year. The political/economic precepts of Socialism, long thought to be discredited following the collapse of world Communism in the late 1980s, is now being resurrected as the “new way of the future.” The damning of “the rich,” the “Wall Streeters,” and the “greedy, tax-dodging capitalists” has found resonance in many of our citizens, particularly the younger set. Promises of benefits such as single payer health care and free college education have wooed many into this camp and it is the “damned” as listed above who will and must pay for these goodies through confiscatory taxes. This political season has not only given Socialism a new life, but it has also introduced “the strong man” as leader with his authoritarian arrogance. This man promises to bring all foes to heel: the Mexicans will pay for a 1,000 mile border wall and the Chinese will stop cheating with their currency manipulation and illegal trade practices. Putin and the Arabs will cave in if only we had this man as our President! And this is just for starters. The two platforms described above are the most extreme of today’s offerings. But the other viable candidates also have their own set of programs that many find displeasing. For instance, who among all five of them has a program to deal with the looming catastrophic national debt? Who has the guts to take on entitlement spending that promises – if not reined in – will bankrupt the entire government? Every one of these candidates has something in their package that not all or even many can accept. This is nothing new. What is important is how people act out their disagreements. What is the proper way they can exercise their objections? Unfortunately, smears and outright lies, dishonest attack ads, threats, shouting down speakers, and rally disruptions are all part of today’s election campaign. This election season has created a climate of rabid partisanship and animosity, resulting in too often setting aside the very necessary civic virtue of “tolerance.” “Tolerance” is defined as a fair and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one’s own. Tolerance is a mainstay of our Constitution’s First Amendment which, “…prohibits the making of any law abridging the freedom of speech….” You may heartily and in good conscience abhor certain ideas and practices of others, but you do not have the right to shut them down from expressing their ideas. Our democracy and our own personal freedoms are at stake here for some very good reasons. Without competing and objecting voices, there can be no freedom for any citizen. For example, consider how the “Brown Shirts” of Hitler and the blasphemy laws of Iran and many other Islamic nations, squashed the freedom of their citizens – in the absence of freedom of speech and religion.. If a candidate puts forth goofy and even dangerous ideas, it is far better to tolerate him and rebut him than to put him in prison, keeping in mind that without our precious freedom of speech, we could be sitting in a cell next to him. Next week: Tolerance and Religion/Culture