Why Compromise Is Impossible

Many people wonder why America is so polarized and why there is perpetual gridlock in Washington. I am surprised that America hasn’t descended into civil war yet.

For political polarization is a given in any civilized society – there will always be conflict between multiple competing factions in any political system. But the widespread acceptance of moral relativism has widened the divide between the two dominant political factions in America today.

One of two “major” political movements in America argues that their opponents are murderers who assist in the murder of children in shootings by advocating the right to bear arms, destroyers of the earth by pushing environmental destruction, and heartless Scrooges who starve children by not supporting anti-poverty social programs.

The other “major” political movement argues that their opponents are murderers who advocate the murder of children for the sake of personal convenience, the destruction of the family through the redefinition of marriage, and the encouragement of permanent dependency and laziness by providing endless handouts and disincentivizing work.

And then there are iconoclastic bomb throwers yelling “a pox on both your houses” and condemning both factions as corrupt and evil.

It is very difficult for any man, even a politician, to compromise with those he considers murderers. The only saving grace, at least from the standpoint of political violence, is that most of our politicians don’t care enough about abortion or marriage or gun control to do anything about them around the edges, or to really fight for them. Politicians (thank God) are still politicians, more concerned about maintaining their own power than about their ideals.

But the era of polarization will mean that more hardline politicians will be elected. God help America when the politicians that represent Americans actually start believing the rhetoric their constituents embody. For then there truly will be conflict.

America already was racked with a Civil War over the issue of slavery (or, more accurately, states’ rights, which were prompted by slavery). How will America be punished for its embrace of child murder?