3
2
2
15. Is being in support of monitored, open, and verifiable Elections a Progressive or Conservative position? P C
Wait, we're not done yet. Whether you identify yourself as progressive or conservative, please find some friends or family who identify themselves as the opposite from you to take this test.
You may be surprised at how close your answers are to each other. For example, on question 14, Conservatives and Progressives may both want to end the deficit spending that's ballooned since Ronald Reagan -- though Conservatives want to do it typically by cutting spending, and Progressives want to do it typically by collecting taxes from the more affluent.
I think Conservatives will be surprised how many Progressives support a strong space program (#3) -- as long as it is demilitarized -- while Progressives will be surprised at how many Conservatives are in favor of supporting the Family Farm (#5).
So yes, we may disagree on the methods of obtaining the goals, but we can still agree on the actual goals.
Then what is going on here? Why are we shouting at each other in the media, in the streets, and in person? Could it be that we are not so divided as we think, or even that we have a common enemy, something that we can agree to dislike?
Here is another question to help clarify things:
A. Do you agree with the following statement: America should be a country where anyone can work hard and honestly, and get a better life for themselves and their families? Yes No
Now, a slight variation on this question:
B. Is America a country where anyone can work hard and honestly, and get a better life for themselves and their families? Yes No
I can't see your answers, but I am willing to bet more of you answered yes to the first question than to the second. In fact, the majority of answers might even be flipped. This is bad. This means the American Dream -- paraphrased in questions A and B above, has come into serious question.
Why? Well, take a look at the your answers to questions 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15 and that of your friends' of opposite political identification. Discuss. Does a common theme something like the following come up: ordinary people do not have the same opportunities and rights as certain very wealthy people and corporations in America today? That is, do you and your friends who identify themselves as from the opposite political spectrum agree that something is just not quite right in the system (anymore)? Perhaps you are not so opposite after all. Perhaps there really is more that unites us than divides us. I'll leave it to you to decide to whose advantage it is to make us think we have less in common than we do (Politicians? Media (including those pundits with vocal opinions on TV)? Big Corporations (who maybe make us act against our own self-interests in order to preserve their profits)?)
Arianna Huffington -- she of the "left,' whatever that means anymore -- has said repeatedly that there are no longer right/left issues, there are special-elites-with-vast-power vs. the rest-of-us issues. Now, before you accuse me of being anti-rich, let me ask you another question:
Is there a moral difference from someone who becomes rich by creating a "better mousetrap' (e.g. a way to charge an electric car in 5 minutes and get 300 miles on a charge, a cure for cancer, an inexpensive, clean, renewable energy source etc.) vs. someone who lives off the wealth of the "land' (land/oil/monopoly-on-money-making or loaning) or his ancestor's fortune? Or, to put it more generally, is it OK to get rich from the results of your own labor, but not OK to get rich from monopolizing resources (land/water/commodities like oil, coal etc.) while simply profiting from the increase in cost due to scarcity resulting from monopolization, or simply inheriting a fortune without working for it? Yes No
This is a more complicated question, so take your time. But, if you answered Yes, you might want to consider if there is another way America should reward its citizens. Some way that supports the innovation and productivity that springs from the Free Market of ideas, while at the same time, doesn't reward people who have "gamed the system' through laws or connections, while not really producing anything of value (note: if you think gathering enormous stock options, or profiting from providing borrowers with loans they ultimately could not repay -- even if those borrowers should not have taken them out - or simply convincing legislatures to grant your special group lower taxes because you contributed more to their campaigns -- are somehow a measure of "value,' then stop here. Put the test down).
See a pattern yet? Americans, perhaps all civilized people, believe in rewarding someone who works hard and honestly to get ahead, but not in rewarding someone who just gets ahead by manipulating laws and the system, or monopolizes resources and excludes others. Perhaps you believe that parents should be able to leave their children something when they die but that it should be, in the words of Warren Buffet, "Enough to do anything they want, but not enough to do nothing at all."
