You won’t find the solution you seek on the line of compromise. In other words the answer is no longer left or right or anywhere in between.
Until derivational affixes like ‘isms’ and ‘ists’ are replaced by more meaningful descriptors we will remain stuck in an argument which, during harder times, encourages bigots at either extreme to shout louder at each other.
In a democracy, political success is determined by the people and even given the voting viscosity of family, group, economic status etc, the people are neither left, right or centre. I am a moderate, tolerant person. I love my family, I believe in personal responsibility. I love nature, I think art and culture are vitally important. I am educated to post graduate level and I would march to defend freedom of speech and the independence of the judiciary. I am concerned by the rise of professional lobbyists and I like to watch football ( of the soccer variety). I respect my elders and I think they are often overlooked. I think globalisation has been, on balance, good for humanity as has capitalism. But I think both need fine tuning. I could go on but the point is, where does that place me on the line of compromise between left and right?
If I can leave aside ( actually repress) my lizard brain prejudice, that deep seated need to narrowly define myself so that I feel like I belong to something, I find myself somewhere else on the space time continuum. Maybe everywhere else. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that the work which needs to be done is the work which protects our democratic institutions from malfunction. Democracy, according to Churchill, may be “the worst form of Government, except all the others we’ve tried to date” but it could be the best of all possible if we just give it a chance.
Corruption is belched by all political colours. Anyone can pay for access and influence. All shades of news are prone to ( con) fuse opinion with facts. Many are willing to publish ‘alternative facts’. Transparency is by definition, colourless. And rich and poor alike chose to stay at home on voting day. We know the list. Let’s work on it together to create the most level playing field on which to play the most important game in town. And may the best team win!
