Rex Murphy: There is a problem in the functioning of our political system. It is one that is beyond mere clashes over public policy preferences. Those, as the biblical expression has it, “have always been with us.”
The problem lies in a new, or at least emergent, understanding of politics itself; of overbearing adherence to ideological certitudes; and the elevation of political differences into litmus tests of character and moral worth. Are you for X? Why then, you are a good and holy person. Are you for Y? Why then, you are a vile fiend.
Politics, for some people today, is what fundamentalist religions were in days past: a field of doctrines and dogmas, along with punishments and secular hellfire for those who do not believe. Politics, especially from the high liberal or “woke” perspective, is a call, something close to an actual order, to agree with a set of opinions on certain subjects that are handed down from above.
No comments:
Post a Comment