Enlightened absolutism

Pundits (and yours truly) are fond of making broad statements about the present. It has been recently stated that this is the most polarized time in the history of the Republic. Oh, really? Even more polarized than that little family squabble we called the Civil War?

However bad it is, I think that the disagreements now have far less to do with actual principles than who's particular ox is getting gored. And things are certainly not real chipper between red and blue state America. Call it the death of the center and of any chance of a nuanced position.

The Dalai Lama says it was okay to waste Bin Laden, the Archbishop of Canterbury thinks it was inhuman. John Yoo says that he should have been captured alive. The Apaches are pissed off because Geronimo's name got thrown into the mission somehow. Bill Koch doesn't think Obama deserves any credit. Sarah Palin says if there is anyone to thank it's George Bush. Oy.

One thing is for sure. People from either side are not in any mood to compromise. Governor Scott Walker said something that I found interesting recently while testifying on Capitol Hill. Walker defended his unilateral throw down against the unions, telling a House committee that protracted, nail-biting negotiations in tough economic times can produce inaction and bad policy. Walker defended his fight to destroy collective bargaining by saying his history with union leaders as Milwaukee County executive showed him that they were unwilling to negotiate. Ironic, isn't it.

"Sometimes," the Republican governor told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, "bipartisanship is not so good."

Walker told Fox News  that he had no intention of watering down his proposals. “We’re willing to take this as long as its takes because in the end we’re doing the right thing,” he said.


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President Obama officially established the National Day of Prayer by proclamation earlier this week. Not finding a suitable invitee in the current administration to speak at the function, the National Day of Prayer Task Force invited former Sen. Elizabeth Dole to speak ‘on behalf of’ the executive branch, in lieu of a representative from the current administration.”

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Pardon me for not having the citation or remembering the source, but I remember flinching last week when a congressional Republican figure reported that they were going to draw a unilateral line in regards to abortion rights, the whole issue being too "important" for any compromise. In this time of doctrinaire politics, lots of positions are too important for either side to budge on.

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House Republican Leader Eric Cantor said he told bipartisan talks on the U.S. deficit that tax hikes were off the table as far as the Republican-run House of Representatives was concerned.

"The House has taken a firm position against anything having to do with increasing taxes or raising tax rates," Cantor said on Thursday. And he won't discuss reducing subsidies to the rich oil companies unless it is part of a much more comprehensive package.

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My father Amos was quite the reader. He was an ardent student of history and even wrote a book on economic theory, one of his passions. He loved to read Machiavelli and imparted to his children the concept of the benevolent despot from "The Prince". The enlightened dictator who would brook no opposition or discussion and rule by unilateral force and fiat.

It seems to me that there are far too many lines being drawn in the sand nowadays. People like Gov. Walker, launching frontal assaults on the old american tradition of bipartisanship, compromise and negotiation and instead preferring to unilaterally jam policy down the throats of his political opponents.

This type of blunt force political maneuvering can not be good for our country in the long run. But it looks like the new way of doing things. Slash and burn politics. Get the first punch in.

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I walked to the library yesterday and saw a family getting out of this van. Thought the juxtaposition of the two different bumper stickers laid the whole thing out in spades. "Forgiven" on the one side and "Stop Obama's Socialism" on the other. Says it all, really. We are in a not so civil war.