The Partisan Divide on Issues

[pbrower2a]

(07-22-2020, 03:40 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:

(07-22-2020, 12:59 AM)Classic-Xer Wrote: Dude, we're not on the same page. Who do all Americans have in common? What is it that makes us all Americans? I have American heritage. Guess what, the American Indians are part of our American Heritage and the Confederates who lost the Civil War are part of our American Heritage too. Liberal culture does not recognize American Heritage or place value on it. You're on the side who is fucking with a nasty giant dude. If you aren't intellectual enough to see it. In short, America is team with a common heritage, common history, common flag and a Constitution that has stood for over two hundred years. So, as far as I'm concerned, you can either stay with the team and try your luck with the other team because this is going to boil down to Liberal Culture vs American Culture. So, what are the Democrats going do about all the new racists with darker skin on it's side. I mean, when you are into gutter politics that's the kind of shit that gutter politics attract. You seem like a decent level headed guy at times.

The two original aspects of US culture were, in The Cousin’s War perspective, the Roundhead northern dwellers in the City on a Hill, and the Cavalier rural culture that is somewhat what you seem to be advocating as American.  The Roundhead culture supposes improvement and change, notably the idea that all men are created equal.  Every four score and seven years they get uppity, and try to impose ‘improvement’ on all, to become a more gleaming an example of the City on a Hill.  They have always been successful, but there are many flaws in US culture such that after each such crisis there is always still more to be done.

And that is part of what it is to be American, that striving for a more perfect union.

Now sometimes those dwelling in rural areas don’t want to change.  They don’t see problems that arise in other more urban areas.  They see that one group has always been dominant, and get this idea that they always should be.  And these rural folk want to cling to flaws that get the dwellers in the City on a Hill going.  

And the rural folk have always given way.

Both these instincts are part of the American culture.  They can conflict.  By the S&H theory, the progressives are always dominant in the crisis heart.  Sacrifices are called for to achieve the common good.  The perceived greatest problem confronting the culture is addressed.  In the unravelling, selfishness is dominant.  The call for a strong government to work for the common good is weak.

And you can’t say that both aspects of the culture aren’t part of America.  You can’t deny that each gets it’s time.  Well, you can try.  You can try to stay selfish when the culture is striving for the common good.  You can try to remain racist when the culture is rejecting the forms of racism you want to practice.  You can try not to dwell in that City on a Hill.

But that City on a Hill is called America.

People can choose rural life because it is simpler and less expensive. One can buy a house in Lagrange, Indiana for much less than you can in Lagrange, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.  Lagrange, Indiana comes with plenty of limitations in what one can do there. It is about a three-hour trip from Chicago, so that allows a day-trip to the Windy City, but not a commute. If you are going to commute from there you might end up in Kalamazoo, Fort Wayne, or South Bend... 

Small-town life is fine if you can satisfy yourself with being in a small circle involving a church, civic group, or fraternal organization. Without that your life will be little more than watching TV or ordering stuff from the Big A to fill your life. But what is the use of reading if you can't talk about it?  

Still, small-town life has its security -- from having to confront many unsettling realities of urban and suburban life... traffic jams, high rents, long lines at stores. Take your choice. There is no perfect scenario for most of us. Even winning the Super-Duper Megabucks Lottery often comes with its own problems. (If you had problems before winning due to personal faults, then you might end up deeper in those problems).