Polarization that balances is the
polarization of complementarity: like
male and female. But a polarization
that separates and annihilates is a polarization of fracture: like white/black segregation. About polarization that fractures I wrote:
--....Fracturing, then, is a process of privileging through polarization where the polarizing process is somehow taken to the extreme. It is this extreme polarization--stretching the rubber band beyond its bounds until it breaks--that creates the fracturing of the relationship. Extreme polarization destroys. The method utilized is to destroy the form (oppositional pair) and thereby achieve a destruction of substance."
Republicans vs. Democrats: Freedom,
Unity, Party and Purpose
Today many individuals conceptualize
and thereby practice the politics of fracture.
They either explicitly or implicitly use the rhetoric of destruction and
annihilation: whether reflected in
efforts to "secede" from the union or merely suggesting a "gun-sight" be placed
on a website over a particular opposing candidate's photo.
Roles have altered over time. But in our day, arguably, it would be fair
to describe the Republican party as the party seeking to uphold the ideal of
freedom. And the Democratic party as
the party seeking to uphold the ideal of unity or community.
There are two different ways to view
party roles. One way is the way of
fracture and annihilation: that freedom
is the only way and that community is socialism and wrong and must be destroyed
at all costs or the result is the apocalypse, and vice versa.
The other method is the way of
balancing or complementarity. This view
recognizes that each party has a purpose.
It recognizes that the purpose of each party rests in advancing its
particular ideal: freedom or
unity. It recognizes that freedom and
unity are pairs of opposites that need each other in order to create
meaning--that there can be no conception of freedom without a conception of
community. This view maintains that
practices of fracture and annihilation destroy our whole society, not just the
intended hated other.
Complementarity understands that it is extremely difficult to try and hold as your goal both ideals at the same time. One must have priority over the other. But complemetarity also understands that this "prioritization" is not evil. In fact, it is necessary. And, this is the very role of political parties, to hold sacred and advance the core ideal of its group. However, complementarity understands that in any given epoch -- sometimes freedom must lead, but sometimes unity must lead also. It understands that this is why we have elections: to decide which priority should lead given the needs of the time.
Put an End to Civil War Thinking
We must put an end to Civil War
thinking.
There are multiple valid purposes, all inspired by a given ideal. Men and women; Parent and Child, white and black, Republican and Democrat, the list goes on and on.
In our lives we can treat these differences as contradictions and reasons to try and annihilate one another, or we can see them as the complements they are in reality. If we accept reality, we accept a dynamic life that demands and requires balancing. We understand that this is the thrill of living. For the work is never done. We adjust our purpose in the great symphony of life and thereby advance all other forms of purpose. This can only happen if we accept the importance and purpose of the other and not seek their annihilation. When every person is important and has significance, the result is peace: a dynamic peace in living. Annihilation will achieve peace also. But it will be the static peace of death. Choose life.(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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