50/50

Conventional wisdom says that we are a 50/50 nation, that the populace divides along partisan lines and, as a result, we are polarized. Somehow this is supposed to be bad. Whether it is or not, I don't know. I do know that this formulation has become simplistic and tedious.

The population of this country is about 300 Million. Since you couldn't ever expect to get 3 people to agree on everything all of the time, you certainly aren't going to get it with 300 Million.

Of course, we disagree and when there is disagreement, especially profound disagreement, there is, by definition, polarization. But I don't think it's bi-polar, that there are only two points of view of every situation, pro-choice vs. pro-abortion, for example, or pro-Iraq war vs. anti-Iraq war or pro-affirmative action vs. anti-affirmative action. I think the media likes to posit everything in those terms, pro vs. anti, because it makes for easier reporting. But it dumbs down the issues. And it treats us as if we are one dimensional cardboard cut-outs.

So it's simplistic and it's tedious because to say that the American people are "polarized" along political lines is to say nothing at all of any real insight. Different people hold different points of view. This is not a big mystery. Who we are, what we think, what we believe in develops out of a big mishmash of when, where and to whom we are born, what we are taught, what we learn on our own, what we experience and when and how we experience it and what kind of refinements we apply to the whole business of living as we go about our daily lives.

I think this whole "I am this, you are that" formulation is meaningless. Where is it written that we must agree? and that the fact that we don't necessarily totally agree with each other on very many issues means that we are dysfunctional or defective in some way?

It's obvious we agree on some things. For example, it looks as if we all agree that this is the only country we want to live in or there would be more of us striving mightily to move to Costa Rica or Senegal or Finland. It also seems we agree that having lots of disparate, conflicting ideas or opinions is a really good thing because we practice disagreeing amongst ourselves with consummate devotion. And why not? Looking out a window to see something new or different is a whole lot more interesting than looking in a mirror and seeing the same old face every day.