I have been a brainwashed conservative, most of my life, but I am starting to develop this theory that conservatives are often times guilty of binary thinking. They seem to think in terms of all or nothing. Like, the government should never ever raise taxes, no matter what. A tax cut is always a good thing, no matter what. Redistribution of wealth is always a bad thing, no matter what. Allowing illegal aliens to have any rights is a bad thing, no matter what. Corporations should be unrestricted in their capitalist decisions, no matter what. Same sex marriage should never be allowed, no matter what. Abortion should not ever be allowed, no matter what. The Banking Industry should be completely unregulated, no matter what. Competition is always a good thing, no matter what. Saying anything bad about the United States means you are a terrorist, no matter what. A preacher should never say anything controversial, no matter what. You should never associate with people who have made big mistakes, no matter what. We will stay in Iraq for a hundred years of that’s what it takes, no matter what. Etc, etc, etc, etc.
And then they try to paint a picture of Democrats as if Democrats are also binary thinkers. They say things like, Democrats will always raise taxes, no matter what. Democrats will always increase the redistribution of wealth, no matter what. Democrats will always try to help Americans get something for nothing, no matter what. Democrats will always try to make our government more socialist, no matter what. Democrats will say anything to get elected, no matter what. Democrats are nothing but a bunch of smooth talkers, who never mean what they say, no matter what. Etc, etc, etc, etc.
Conservatives seem to get caught up in all of these binary absolutes when they analyze candidates during any election. But then, when conservatives get elected, they never govern based on absolutes like they claimed they were going to do while campaigning. Well, except for maybe Ron Paul. But Ron Paul is a good example of how maybe binary thinking is not the right type of thinking about politics. Ron Paul refuses to ever vote for any bill which compromises any of his core values in any way shape or form. But as a result, he hasn’t really gotten anything done the entire time he has been in congress, and he has been there a long time.
So, maybe it is good to try to view all of the shades of grey, when forming an opinion on any specific issue, instead of using a binary formula which does not take into account all of the complex facets of actual situations and circumstances?
- cpacek, . . . . . Shouldn’t taxes always be raised as much as is needed to pay for military and police forces?
- MaryV in Florida, . . . . . Are you both socially and economically conservative? I don’t see how anybody can be a social conservative without being guilty of binary thinking. Isn’t social conservatism basically believing that my way of living life is right and your way is wrong, even if both ways of living life are peaceful? How is that not binary thinking?
- 2xvoice, . . . . . Victor, I agree with you. I was mad at Fox News when I wrote this article. LOL But, after re-reading the article several times, I have thought of a lot of examples of non-conservative binary thinking, like you pointed out. I like your idea that our current system prevents binary thinking from dominating our government. That actually gives me hope that I don’t have to worry about the liberals ever driving us too socialist, or the conservatives ever driving us too racist and unregulated. This is giving me a lot of hope, actually. Thank you very much for this comment!
- 2xvoice, . . . . . Victor, I agree with you 100%!!!!!!! How soon is your next book coming out? Didn’t I read something on your blog about a book in the works? :-D
With all your absolutes that you pointed out tell me when raising taxes is a good thing? Just looking for examples to back up your theory. Just asking.
Anyone who thinks or speaks in absolutes is far too easy to prove wrong.
I am a conservative and I neither speak nor think in absolutes (except when it comes to people who intentionally harm children).
There are binary thinkers on the other end of the spectrum: Leftists who think government programs are always good and private sector solutions are bad; what’s good for big business must be bad for someone else; Israel is bad, Palestinians are good (if only they’d stop those annoying rocket attacks!). Then there are atheists who think everything religious must be bad, and so on. As far as politics goes, our system prevents binary thinking from dominating by requiring compromise to get anything done. Conservative icon Ronald Reagan raised taxes after initially lowering them — just one example of what your’e getting at, I think.
Victor Kulkosky
http://outofmymindblog.wordpress.com
The challenge for those who strive to think in a non-binary way is that it’s a lot harder to do. Binary thinking is easy: Simply divide things into your neat either/or categories, and proceed accordingly. The antidote is not the equally simple-minded approach of splitting the difference 50/50. There’s a continuum. Take taxes, for instance. They’re not bad or good, period. If we want government to function effectively, we pay taxes. How much? That depends on, one, what we want from government; and, two, how much we’re willing to pay and what we’re willing to give up, since we can’t have everything when it comes to government spending. There is no fixed answer to tax and spending questions, either; it depends on changing circumstances. Politicians have a bad habit of giving us dishonest answers: Yes, I’ll cut your taxes in half, but I’ll only cut the programs somebody else likes, or, Yes, I’ll give you this program, but I’ll make someone else pay for it, or, even worse, You can have this program, and it somehow won’t cost extra. We need a rational, informed discussion on such issues, but we rarely get it from either voters or politicians.
Victor Kulkosky
http://outofmymindblog.wordpress.net