Of The Same Age, Not Of The Same Mind

Had a nice dinner last night with seven other couples.  These are among my oldest and best friends.  We go back to college days, and I love them dearly.  Although we're all of the same age, we're not always of the same mind.  There was a bit of political conversation which stuck in my head and I couldn't shake it.  At such times, Buster is compelled to blog it out.

Apropos of nothing, one of these dear old friends told me that he reads this blog regularly, but he does not agree with the liberal viewpoint and Buster's Blog has no effect on him.  (That's a pity, but thanks for reading!)  He went on.

Unsolicited, he identified himself as a libertarian.  (Another pity.)  Libertarianism is the politics of selfishness and greed.  Many of us were attracted by it in our youth, but most of us got over it fairly quickly.  Because it doesn't work.  The natural end game of libertarianism is anarchy.  There has never been a nation with a successful libertarian government.

From there, he repeated some tired, old Reagan-era claptrap:  Government is the problem, all taxes are wasteful, all politicians are bad, both sides suck, etc.  But he votes Republican because Democrats are weak on the economy and on national defense.

Oh, puh-leeze!  Wrong on all of the above!  But my old friend is not alone.  He expresses a common attitude held by right-wingers.  It's a false equivalency in broad-brush form:  "Get rid of all of 'em.  They all suck..  They're all the same."

No, they're not.  Such an assertion is simplistic and intellectually lazy.  Neither party is perfect, but no clear-eyed individual can look at them today and credibly claim they're both the same, that they're both "the swamp," that both are equally flawed.  This sort of unreasoning anger and desire to destroy everything and everybody is what enabled hyper-partisan Trumpism to be inflicted upon us.

My friend said he's in favor of "balance," which is Faux News code for conservative control and for excusing any Republican malfeasance.  He asked me if I really thought it would be a good idea to let the Democrats be in charge for the next 20 years.

In a word, ol' buddy, yes.

Maybe that will happen, maybe it won't.  It will depend on what people think and how people vote -- areas well beyond my control or influence.  Whatever happens, my old friend will remain my old friend, and I hope I'll remain his.  Maybe he'll keep reading this awful liberal screed which has no impact on him.  If he does, and if he'd return the libertarian tin-foil hat to Rand Paul, perhaps a progressive idea or two might indeed impact him and a fresher, more woke political outlook might sink in.



In any event, I love my good old friends!  Peace, out.