The legitimacy filter

Article

The Crisis and the Truth

Summary

The Weekly Standard's editors believe we have a national crisis in Pres. Trump's accusation that he was illegally surveilled by Pres. Obama's administration.

Quote

"It is an institutional and perhaps constitutional crisis when the president of the United States accuses his predecessor of illegally wiretapping him as a candidate--a wiretapping presumably carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, still headed by the director accused by the president of wiretapping him."

Understanding

Dueling conspiracy theories are racing at the speed of tweeting for legitimacy. The liberal narrative is that Pres. Trump wants to distract us from Russian influence on his administration.  Conservatives claim that the wiretapping accusation itself, even without evidence, is sufficient to warrant investigation.

The Weekly Standard's call for transparency is noble and appropriate, but I wonder what evidence any of us will accept that might alter our preconceptions?

We often prefer our opinions to the truth. Once we set our minds on a belief we filter out facts that challenge our mindset and collect data that reinforces our preferred concept.

We are like competing tribes who share the same land but a different language, and each of us is building a wall, tweet by tweet, claim by claim, stone by stone, to protect our enclave.

Winning at all costs is a losing argument

Article

Blue State Blues: The Deliberate Politicization of Intimacy

Summary

Joel B. Pollak claims that Democrats' exploitation of personal relationships threatens our society.

Quote

"Obama told his supporters explicitly to approach their neighbors and “argue with them, and get in their face.” His surrogates took that approach even further. Hollywood celebrity Sarah Silverman encouraged Obama’s Jewish supporters to travel to Florida and tell their ostensibly racist grandparents to vote for him. Later, once Obama was in office, the supposedly non-partisan Rock the Vote organization told young people to withhold sex from partners who refused to support Obamacare."

Understanding

Pollak makes some insightful comments about how social media divides us into camps rather than brings us together. Then he advocates that liberals are to blame and conservatives aren't as guilty.

It looks like he'd rather win his argument than be right. He seized an opportunity to score points for his side rather than bring us to common ground.

I recall the times at work or with loved ones that I've tried, with vehement disregard for decency and righteousness, to win at all costs .  Victory was short-lived when I succeeded. Shame and remorse remained.

Understanding is literally an act of humility and we will have a difficult time standing together if we remain determined to top one another.

The ruling class

Article

James Burnham's Managerial Elite

Summary

The author makes the case for the relevance of an economic analysis from the 50's called managerialism. Managerialism holds that the ascendence of elites into control of the corporate and public sector based on their superior knowledge and network, is the reason for our current political disarray and economic disfunction.

Quote

Conservative polemicists have long presented a caricature of a decadent liberal elite, and liberals have offered a competing caricature of a conservative plutocracy. But few have attempted to understand how these ostensible opponents function as elements of the same elite, or how they have participated in maintaining the broader intellectual, political, and economic status quo.

Understanding

My advanced degree, college administrator role and six-figure income place me in the managerial class. Because our status is derived from our competence, and not our ability to create value, the managerial elite controls the largest share of the pie without necessarily needing to create more berries, flour and sugar for the workers. The baking class will produce the pie for us and all we have to do is pay what we can easily afford.

No wonder their resentment is seething. No wonder they voted against the status quo of both political parties. The pie consuming class looks the same whether we are registered Republican or Democrat. We take whatever we want and leave the baking class to sweep the crumbs away.

Seeing ourselves in the other

Article

Jiminy Cricket! Disney Goes Gay

Summary

Todd Starnes objects to same-sex romance in Disney cartoons and films.

Quote

"But these days everything is about the LGBTQIA agenda. And when it comes to the entertainment industry, nothing is sacred in its quest to indoctrinate American children. Not even Disney."

Understanding

Popular entertainment is like a well-lighted mirror. It dramatizes and exaggerates our reflection. We won't always like what we see.

Starnes' response proclaiming: "everything is about..." and "nothing is sacred" is common human behavior when we feel threatened. For example, the ascendancy of President Trump has caused me to exaggerate fears and worry about dark plots among those who don't share my values.

Starnes is afraid of same-sex love becoming mainstream. He chooses not to imagine how LGBTQIA people feel in the world he holds as normal. Or how I would feel in his home.

We all want to feel like we belong. We all share so much more in common than what distinguishes us.

Responding to Pres. Trump's speech to Congress

Article

"Speaker Paul Ryan: Trump's Speech a Home Run"

Summary

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan says President Trump delivered a bold and optimistic speech.

Quote

“We now have a government unified around a simple, but important principle: Empowering the people—not Washington—is the way to build a better future for our country.”

Understanding

The rhetoric of the left and the right have much in common. Everyone wants the people empowered. Everyone wants a better future for our country. Can we stop there, stay there and begin the conversation from where we agree?

I worry when opponents make the other side the enemy, in Ryan's case "Washington." That's when I distrust their motive for as Gore Vidal said, "It's not enough to win. Others must lose."

Who will lose? I wonder how President Trump's call last night for us to be bold and fearless sounded to the good people who don't feel safe here?

Beginning

I will visit the websites of conservative media and follow the tweets of right-wing commentators each day from March 1 through April 15. I'll select the article that most upsets or intrigues me and try to understand that perspective or appreciate that new learning.

The process will be inherently unfair to my sources. I am looking for content that strikes a personal nerve, so there will be no context nor balance. Therefore I hope anyone who reads Heartear will resist judging these authors based on my selections. The subjects I choose are only excerpts of the authors' entire body of work.

I accept we are connected with our enemies. It is a relationship without indifference. If I am to love my neighbor and love my enemy, then I want to embrace the difference by knowing them, not dismissing them.

I will abide with them for a little while and keep watch.