That the Baby and the Bath-Water Are Somehow Separate

While Congressman Kucinich isn't necessarily the person I look to first for wisdom (I agreed with him on the war, but little else), I have to admit that the guy from time to time does put forth some interesting views. One of his quips that I especially like is the one where he points out that the American political system, just like the American eagle, needs both of its wings (i.e., the left AND the right) to fly. If in fact it loses one of them, it perishes................................................................I site this not just to the Ann Coulters of the world, those who would like nothing better than to see the U.S. Democratic party evaporate, period, but also to those on the left - those on the blogosphere, in particular. I mean, seriously, folks, have you ever taken the time to take a look at some of this crap? I think that if they could wave a magic wand and get rid of ALL Republicans (yes, even the frigging moderate ones, for Christ!) FOREVER, they'd do it in a frigging beat. Get rid of the opposition and apparently pure nirvana will occur................................................................But back to the gist of perhaps what Congressman K. was saying here. Think about it. If in fact we only had liberals/progressives in a society, changes/paradigm shifts would occur so rapidly that anomie (reference Durkheim's anomic suicide, for example) could conceivably occur within that society. If, on the other hand, we only had conservatives/traditionalists, change (necessary change, I'm saying) could conceivably occur at such an incremental pace that stagnation could result. That would be dangerous, too (an inability to adapt, etc.)..................................................................The bottom-line, folks, a society needs both of these forces to survive. The liberals put forth the type of change that a society often needs to be adaptive. Conservatives slow down the process to the point where we can more readily assimilate this change....................................................................This, of course, isn't to say that we shouldn't be debating (and vigorously), posturing, working about the margins, etc..We should be. Just try to remember (as President Obama himself tried to remind us), though, the other side occasionally has some good ideas, too.