Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: red/blue schism

[Stephan Wik (stephan]

On 22 Feb 2005, at 15:02, Saoirse Charis-Graves wrote:

> "It is time for us to realize that "seeing both sides" is not a bland, 
> befuddled, middle-of-the-road position. It is our next necessary step 
> onto the leading edge of democracy's evolution.

Ah yes. The problem is that sometimes people head down the road of 
entrenched, static positions and they are not amenable to reasoned 
discussion. I have often observed that the lower the self-esteem the 
greater the need to find some external 'authority' or 'dogma' to 
bolster one's sense of self-worth.

I do wonder whether the fault line is not between left/right/blue/red 
but rather between people who have taken full responsibility for their 
own actions and self-development and those who have handed the 
responsibility to someone/something else. I've always found it quite 
easy to talk/work/co-operate with people from any part of the 
political/social spectrum that are coming from a self-empowered place. 
Religious Fundamentalists and Political Fundamentalists can be very 
difficult to get on with in my experience no matter what 'ology' or 
'ism' they have latched on to.

From a non-US perspective I do wonder how a country that was founded by 
a bunch of Fundamentalists exported from (or thrown out of) Europe ever 
managed to get on at all!

I have much respect for the fact that you are willing to talk about 
this subject at all.

Stephan