One side focuses on the dangers of overextending our debt and our economy crashing. We spend too much on entitlements that help the poor in our society and we need to cut that expense. They propose doing this by changing those programs to work on vouchers so that the individual has more of a stake in the service. At the same time they deny the overwhelming warning from the majority of the world's scientists of the far greater threat to the planet that is present in our continuing use of carbon fuels for our necessary energy. Cheap fuels, in their point of view, are critical to allay future debt and preserve our life style. Short-term profits equal survival. The other side does more to preserve the safety net, and also gives some service to supporting energy alternatives, even when they wind up non-competitive in a marketplace dominated by cheap carbon fuels and subsidized alternatives from outside. They seem agreeable to a carbon tax that would help cut our use of fuels, cover some of our debt, and perhaps delay some global warming.
In the area of foreign policy we have one side lamenting America's decline in power and resolving to increase military funding to restore our power. They appear to see military power as the only real power. On the other side we have a secretary of state acknowledging the need for "smart power," presumably with the meaning given by Joseph Nye (Soft Power) as the wise combination of hard (military) power and the soft power implied in getting the other side to want what you want. Neither side has yet come to the realization that this battle is archetypal--it goes far beyond U.S. Military power. Paul Ewald (The Evolution of Infectious Disease) shows that bacteria exposed to hard power, as in something that kills them (like antibiotics), will develop resistance to that threat, but when exposed to soft power, as in making it harder for them to get around (with soap and water, bed nets, condoms, good nasal hygiene, etc.) they will develop more to live with the host without trying to recycle them. Even psychological games show that people will spend some of their own money in order to bring down a selfishly oriented game player. The use of hard power, in other words, creates its own enemies.
These are a few areas of political interest where the lines are well enough defined for showing the differences. In evolution both survival and symbiosis are needed. It's for us all to decide which pole we are in more need of now, survival or transformation, and let that understanding impact on how we vote.
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