Feminism, Conservatism and Positive Middle
When I say anything about conservatism I get called a left-winger, and when I say anything about feminism I get called a right-winger. I am neither. I seek the positive middle path.
No, not just any middle path, as the middle path can be found in all sorts of undesirable places. I mean the positive middle path that sees what's right about each side and combines it while doing away with the wrongs in each.
Feminism is right to affirm women's right to a fulfilling life outside the home; wrong to attack love, beauty and family life. Conservatism is right to seek prosperity and strength in the face of Islamism; wrong to deny global warming or to attack efforts to extend to people an affordable education and healthcare.
Science is right to produce useful knowledge; wrong to see spirituality as mumbo-jumbo. Religion and spirituality is right to affirm people's right to spiritual experience; wrong to attack science.
Environmentalism is right to seek less wasteful and less destructive economic practices, wrong to attack the technological lifestyle. Capitalism is right to seek convenience and prosperity, wrong to blindly destroy the environment.
People should have the benefits of both nature and civilization; both private economy and affordable education and health care; both science and spirituality; both thinking and feeling; both the women and the men.
There are two kinds of conflicts that take place at the political level. One is the conflict of values; the other is the conflict of interests. While a case can be made that compromise based on values is evil, compromise based on interests is a workable definition of good. In conflicts such as the one between business and labor, neither side is right and neither side is wrong. Both are capable of both good and evil. Business is capable of all sorts of corrupt and destructive practices, and labor is capable of demanding ridiculous things from their bosses while themselves hardly working. Neither deserves to dominate, and neither deserves to be subjugated. Both can do both right and wrong, and at the political level the task is to incentivize rightful behavior by both while disincentivizing wrong behavior by both.
I am neither a right-winger nor a left-winger. I seek the positive middle path. I hope more people see the reason in this and do likewise.
No, not just any middle path, as the middle path can be found in all sorts of undesirable places. I mean the positive middle path that sees what's right about each side and combines it while doing away with the wrongs in each.
Feminism is right to affirm women's right to a fulfilling life outside the home; wrong to attack love, beauty and family life. Conservatism is right to seek prosperity and strength in the face of Islamism; wrong to deny global warming or to attack efforts to extend to people an affordable education and healthcare.
Science is right to produce useful knowledge; wrong to see spirituality as mumbo-jumbo. Religion and spirituality is right to affirm people's right to spiritual experience; wrong to attack science.
Environmentalism is right to seek less wasteful and less destructive economic practices, wrong to attack the technological lifestyle. Capitalism is right to seek convenience and prosperity, wrong to blindly destroy the environment.
People should have the benefits of both nature and civilization; both private economy and affordable education and health care; both science and spirituality; both thinking and feeling; both the women and the men.
There are two kinds of conflicts that take place at the political level. One is the conflict of values; the other is the conflict of interests. While a case can be made that compromise based on values is evil, compromise based on interests is a workable definition of good. In conflicts such as the one between business and labor, neither side is right and neither side is wrong. Both are capable of both good and evil. Business is capable of all sorts of corrupt and destructive practices, and labor is capable of demanding ridiculous things from their bosses while themselves hardly working. Neither deserves to dominate, and neither deserves to be subjugated. Both can do both right and wrong, and at the political level the task is to incentivize rightful behavior by both while disincentivizing wrong behavior by both.
I am neither a right-winger nor a left-winger. I seek the positive middle path. I hope more people see the reason in this and do likewise.
posted by Ilya Shambat at 10:54 PM
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