"Let’s all try to start working together like adults, instead of bickering and complaining about each other like children."

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Polarization makes for dangerously unproductive politics
By Kevan Hulligan, February 23, 2015

Extremism and stubbornness are problems stalling our government today, but when it gets to the ridiculous point we’re at now, can we dig ourselves out of it?

It seems nowadays that conservatives and liberals are more concerned with bickering and belittling each other than making laws.

An example is Jeb Bush, who’s considered by many to be the front-runner for the Republican nominee for the 2016 presidential election, since he was recently labeled “unelectable” by influential conservative group ForAmerica.

What did he do to deserve such a label? Had he flip-flopped on an important area of concern for conservatives? Did he perhaps do something illegal that would cast a pall over his chances at the presidency? Actually, all he did was speak positively about Hillary Clinton while presenting her a lifetime public service award at a function two years ago. He said that the both of them are “… united by a love of country and public service.”

Since when is it a crime to think that someone of the opposite political persuasion as you isn’t in fact a malicious demon lord out to destroy the United States and burn the Constitution? Last time I checked, seeing someone with a different political stance than you as someone who wants to better the country with different ideas isn’t an offense worthy of being tarred, feathered and run out of town.

Besides that, it’s a lazy criticism that requires no actual argument behind it other than he’s respectfully talking to Clinton. “Here he’s standing next to one of our political enemies, yet he isn’t even trying to push her down a flight of stairs! Traitor!”

There isn’t just one group doing this, by the way. Conservatives and liberals alike are guilty of demonizing the other to the point where compromising and finding a solution that could benefit everyone is tantamount to high treason.

How many times have I heard conservatives described as modern-day robber barons seeking to burn the poor and take all their possessions for the rich? Too often. How many times have I heard liberals described as bearded Marxists that want political correctness police patrolling the streets of their new Soviet Union that robs the rich blind? Too often.

This isn’t to say that the solution to our political problems always lie somewhere in the middle. The fallacy of the golden mean is a dangerous one to fall into. Sometimes a right-wing solution works more for a problem, sometimes a left wing. People can be particularly beholden toward one way or the other, but the minute we decide that the other side isn’t worth working with or trying to convince them of some of our ideas, we become extremists that see no value in thinking differently. Open-mindedness and willingness to debate respectfully are the cornerstones of a working democracy and should be encouraged instead of despised.

Congress just narrowly avoided earning the dubious honor of the least productive Congress in the history of the U.S., passing only 296 laws in a two-year period. The holder of that record is the 2011-13 Congress, with 283 laws passed. Let’s all try to start working together like adults, instead of bickering and complaining about each other like children.
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