# 41 POLITICS 101

I’ve never been a guru when it comes to understanding the politics of government and the thinking behind it. In school I just couldn’t get a grip on it. But as an adult, I thought I finally had a passable understanding that could at least give me the intellect needed to vote.

Now what I thought was the case was that conservatives are anti-abortion, pro-life, non-war-mongering fundamentalist-based persons who prefer to cling to a peaceful means of government. And that liberals were persons ruled more by intellect than ethics, and willing to react with drastic measures whenever new knowledge and new research dictate a need for change.

But in the States, I find that the Republicans (conservatives) are bullying and war-mongering but at the same time pro-life (a brash contradiction, in my opinion). And the Democrats (liberals) have a somewhat conscientious view ruled more, it would often seem, by ethics, rather than intellect. So you see why I’m so confused. And I’m not the only one. At least twice a week, someone asks me the same question about current events in the U.S.

"Is that a Republican ideology? Sounds more like a liberal ideology to me?"

The lines of delineation between conservatism and liberalism are becoming so blurred. We are all so confused. Hub is confused, I am confused, neighbours are confused, even relatives that live in the States are confused. What I think is causing the confusion is the fact that government is getting too involved in religious ethics. Maybe not religion, per se, but religious ethics. Gay marriage, abortion, right to die, war, anything pertaining to God such as prayer in schools, ten commandments display or demolition, etc. All political events and situations that become insidiously entangled in the fringes of religious ideologies until the tangle begins to even encompass other political situations quite removed from these problems.

You see politics and religion are a bad mix. And inviting Gerry Falwell and his contemporaries on political talk shows is not helping the matter. When politics and religion start to intertwine it seems like the result is a disheartening and disappointing political antagonism in the U.S. that is negatively affecting unity and patriotism at its very core.

But, all that aside and going back to the original problem, my confusion only increases with the passage of time. So I decided to scrap all previous thinking about liberals and conservatives and look at the primitive motivations of man (before government ideologies were crafted) in the hope that I could form a new, and better understanding, of what motivates the philosophies of Democrats vs Republicans.

Now in my research, I found that some of the Great Philosophical Thinkers concluded that Man is driven by an unconscious hard-drive rather than intellectual software. And such persons are NOT able to transcend animal nature. Primitive instincts override any intellectual thought. And it is these basic instincts (rather than God as G.B. would have us believe) that position them to concentrate solely on aggressively protecting their territory and enhancing their power. I can’t help but think that this best describes the one staunch Republican that I am most frequently exposed to in the media – G.B.

And other of the Great Thinkers concluded that Man can transcend animal nature, that he is a creature ruled by intellect – albeit a fallible intellect. Intellect that sometimes leads to very foolish attempts to make life more pleasant (the Monica affair), and sometimes leads to very wise attempts to make life more organized (economy and trade). I think that best describes the staunch Democrat that I was most frequently exposed to before G.B. came into power.

So my question to those who have that better understanding of party platforms and politics is this. "Am I making any progress?"

There is room for comments and any help would be appreciated.