Tribalism at work

2017-01-04T17:50:35Z

BcatOne:

The Wall Street Journal editorial section (January 3, 2017) carried an article by William Galston. Mr. Galston is a contemporary liberal and a career Democrat among an otherwise classically liberal editorial staff that leans Republican. In this instance, Mr. Galston wrote an article titled "The Growing Threat of 'Illiberal Democracy'" [http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-growing-threat-of-illiberal-democracy-1483488245]. In it he asks the question "What happens when rule by the people conflicts with individual rights?" It is an interesting article that champions the concept of 'rule of law' vs. such things as pure democracy. It is a very classic liberal position to take - and a defense of individual liberty. Here is one of Galston's comments:
*"Many have come to see liberal institutions such as a free press, constitutional courts and individual rights not as protections against public power, but rather as obstacles to effective governance. To solve major problems, goes the argument, government must have the capacity to act effectively, which liberal restraints undermine."
CivicWiki agrees and agrees with most of the rest of the article. Further, we would expect those on the right (as well as the left) to at least agree with its overall message of individual liberty.
Here are a few reader comments posted at the bottom of the article on WSJ's website (cut and pasted without modification). Note that they tend to recall grievances over issues not even mentioned in Galston's article.
*Please go away and take your lying columns with you, Galston.... anyone with half a brain knows that "liberalism" is communism, leftism, socialism, etc. gussied up to sell to the next generation of suckers and takers...
*In the U.S. Galston and his "liberal" friends have tried to subvert what he calls liberal democracy by packing the court system and liberalizing both legal and illegal immigration to the detriment of their fellow countrymen.
*Mr. Galston seems to have missed or ignored the past eight years, or viewed them as a liberal nirvana, under Obama’s governance by executive order, regulation and prosecution of illiberal recalcitrants such as the Little Sisters of the Poor. (my comment: the article made no mention of Obama, etc.)
These commentors did not read and understand that what Mr. Galston wrote defended individual liberty and was not a partisan rant. They reacted to their preexisting impression of his tribal affiliation. If someone from their side were to make the same remarks, they would heartily agree. We must do better than that. In fact, Mr. Galston provides evidence that there '''are''' principles of universal validity around which we can agree and then discuss how they should apply to the issues, our problems and our governance.

Liberation of us

2017-01-03T18:23:26Z

BcatOne:

CivicWiki was created as a reaction to our deepening political division.  Our desire was to surface fundamental principles on which most of us can agree. One of our assumptions is that there are such principles around which a broad consensus can be built. On that, we would like to build a consensus of how government should work. If that is too tall an order we can, at least, hold a civil discourse from which will come better mutual understanding rather than tribal reaction. Our political divisions will become more principled, less tribal, and therefore smaller. Tribalism is not completely bad. A community of like minded people can accomplish great things - the creation of The United States for example. But today tribalism is being pushed to its extreme until it does not require understanding, it discourages it. A tribe's members do not have to understand their beliefs; they only have to conform to them to belong. Nor do they have to understand those of other tribes; they only have to oppose them. ([[Tribalism at work|A link to a great example of tribalism at work]].) CW will pursue better understanding. To do that well, we need to understand our own beliefs and those that differ.

Initially, we worked from an historical perspective. The premise was that the United States was, and still is, the most dynamic and successful society on the planet; that it became so because of the principles and institutions on which its government was formed; and that erosion of those principles and the way we have reconstructed our institutions (the rise of the regulatory state as one example) is damaging our economy, our society and us as individuals. CW’s aim was to persuade that reclaiming our foundation was the best way to repair society and ensure the future for us all.  Our direction was shifted somewhat by the realization that our fundamental motive is not, foremost, a reconstruction of society and government or to simply go back in time. '''''CW’s fundamental motive is the liberation of us all as individuals'''''.

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Tribalism at work

Liberation of us