01-31-2021, 05:58 PM
(01-29-2021, 05:14 PM)mamabug Wrote: I will never let go of the ideology that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I will never cease to be a Bill of Rights near-absolutist that sees any infringement upon it as something that should only be allowable under the most extreme circumstances. I will also never cease to revile those that seek to use the private sphere to abrogate those ideals simply because they are not subject to the limitations we impose on our government.
If I have to let go of that ideology to achieve consensus, it isn't worth it. Whatever comes out of that 'consensus' simply won't be American, no matter how prettily you dress it up. That you think 'accepting people who are different from you to live freely in your country' is *still* a left-wing value shows either how disconnected you are from the up and coming generation of progressives or that you are deep in cognitive dissonance.
Everything else is up for negotiation, but without that fundamental acknowledgement that people who have different opinions than you politically ARE NOT EVIL, I see little hope of a consensus even forming.
The idea that all people are equal under law for me is mixed in with the Bill of Rights at some level. Your revulsion at those who reject those ideals is understandable, but the idea that minorities aren't equal, are considered less equal because their ancestors came in at the wrong time or their skin is pigmented differently is by many considered abhorrent by the standard you set.
And occasionally the other guys are evil. If they are trying to throw away votes against them cast by minorities, if they attempt a violent insurrection, I'm sorry. They violate the principle you list and count as making you itch. Those violations make me itch.
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.