Let Me Get Political for a Moment

Fred Hicks designs role playing games, some very good RPG's at that. Yesterday on Google+ he chose to post a magazine article he found interesting. Because this article was somewhat politically charged and he did not want to play host to the ensuing debate on his post, he disabled comments.

He then proceeded to a second post that explained how he could not handle the stress these debates cause him. I often talk here about compromises and the importance of it. It is important not just on a personal level but also on a national level. We have to learn to get along and stop treating politics as theater.

Below is a response I made to Fred’s post.

I have to start by saying this post by +Fred Hicks makes me sad. Not because he has a"liberal-ish, hippy-dippy side," but because it highlights our failure as a nation to be able to talk about the problems we face without it becoming a fight.

This is not a condemnation of your not wanting comments on your posting, but it is a condemnation of those who feel the only way to talk is to attack. Democracy works when we can share our ideas and work towards a generally agreeable solution to our shared problems.

Compromise and the real work of governance do not come from finding fault and placing blame for problems. We need to remember that our allegiance should be to our neighbors, our friends and our families and by extension to our nation and our planet. Instead we give our allegiance to politicians, ideologies and political parties.

The result is that by turning what should be a discussion into a fight we remove people who care and who think but who also feel too much from the conversation. In loosing the voice of the compassionate from the conversation we lose the voice that can bring both sides together, we lose the guide who can help us find the middle ground.

In short we just lose.