Culture of Contempt

By Al Horn

A coworker and I have engaged in many, spirited debates during the last decade. At one point I was very liberal leaning and he was considered to be very conservative. Our views have shifted over the years. I eventually moved to the middle and now would be slightly to the right. He remains on the right but not as far as he once did. Time, jobs, and families will do that.

My friend subscribes to a weekly paper that is sponsored by the political right. I tongue-in-cheek refer to it as the Conservative Rag. I enjoy the political cartoons for their take on current events even if they sometimes go to extremes. At times, one of the columns will catch my attention and I will be drawn into reading it. Some columnist carry political rhetoric to extremes while others seems to examine certain possibilities while expressing their own thoughts.

I thumbed through the edition following the elections to see how many of the columnists would be slapping themselves on the back for being so insightful. There wasn't as much bragging as I expected. Most of them hoped to put the elections behind them and move forward. Some of them wondered just how tough that would be.

One article by Pat Buchanan questioned how the country would be able to mend fences given all the mud-slinging and political backbiting. Reactions by many of the Democrats showed we have a long road ahead of us. According to Mr. Buchanan, many Democratic leaders immediately questioned the mental capacities of the voters re-electing the President. Apparently, if you didn't vote for Kerry you were either too stupid to know better or you were just plain un-American. Children sometimes react positively to such tirades but adults rarely do.

I don't often agree with Mr. Buchanan's opinions but in this case I feel he was correct in saying the Democrats are cultivating a 'culture of contempt'. Such comments will not endear them with the people they will need in order to be successful in future elections. This type of verbal abuse will only maintain a divisive political climate. Possibly, such ranting will convince people who reluctantly jumped to their side of the fence to jump in a different direction. That might not be in their best interest but it could be good for the rest of the country.

How can a country divided ever unite to overcome such problems as job outsourcing, medical coverage, terrorism or the looming threat of our Social Security system collapsing? How does calling a person an idiot one day while asking them to support your initiatives the next day aid your cause? I find it amazing how the people on the left can claim to be so tolerant while displaying so much intolerance for those who oppose their views.

Moral values aside, there is another way of viewing how the right managed to win the election. They shaped their backers into a thick block that was able to drive nails into planks that formed a reasonably solid platform. The left filled a sock full of ball bearings, a large collection of special interests, and then began swinging it. It packs one heck of a punch and can do a lot of damage but it makes for a lousy hammer.

Maybe it's time for everybody to move a little closer to the middle and take a hard look at the fringes. Hopefully, those still standing in the end zones afterwards will move closer to midfield. Even if it's just for a better look at the other side.