What Are Most Of Us, Really?

For years now, on every forum I read, I encounter articles and stories analyzing the various wars between our different people - wars of culture, of philosophy, and politics. Some dive into more complex concepts, utilizing terms like “neo-conservative” and “post-modernism”. Others are more simple, saying things like “Progressives hate America” and “Conservatives are fascist”.

Am I alone, or are most people simply not that rigid in their thinking?

Politicians, pundits, and journalists often need to tow the company line in order to feed Soylent Green to their base audiences and justify their paychecks. But the rest of us? I truly don’t know anyone who is that hard-line in either direction (though a few are close).

Perhaps it’s just the circles in which I choose to swim, but most people I know recognize their freedom to think for themselves. They have varied opinions about everything, often not in line with those endorsed by the party they lean toward. They don’t consider themselves at war with anyone.

I have Liberal acquaintances who believe in limits on immigration, are opposed to men in women’s spaces and adolescent transitioning, live in relationships with traditional gender roles, support Israel, consume fossil fuels and red meat (though not together - tastes terrible), reject over-taxation and regulation, and even have strong religious beliefs. Not all of those things, of course - then they’d be Republicans - but selectively, as best suits the perspectives their experiences have developed.

I have Conservative acquaintances who are atheists, pro-LGBTQ+ rights, vegetarians and vegans, punk rockers and ravers, Trump haters, and supporters of Ukraine; who live in non-traditional families, and who can’t stand the rich. Again, not all of these things simultaneously - then they’d be Democrats - but often enough that their views don’t pigeonhole them into a file with a red or blue label.

I myself am difficult to define, politically speaking. I tend to lean a bit left on most social issues, I’m not religious, and I take a live-and-let-live approach to most things as long as nobody expects me to pay for them. There, of course, lies the rub.

I also tend to vote Republican, despite those social left-leanings. I did so even before the Left’s recent descent into woke madness, mostly because I believe the basic concepts of the Right (smaller government, less regulation, etc., not the extreme control tactics of the hard right) will lay the groundwork for the expansion of social freedoms. Some feel that my views are counterintuitive, while I see them as myopic idealists. Mostly, though, I have meaningful and insightful conversations with them. Sometimes, one or the other of us is even swayed. Imagine that.

Regular folks, not just those “company line” indoctrinators I mentioned before, also frequently fall into the trap of treating all those with dissenting opinions as though they represent the other side’s extreme. If you’re right of center, you must be a white supremacist; if you’re left of center, you must be a socialist.

Sometimes it’s true, but for most normal people it’s not even close. Unlike Republicans, who have mostly kept their far-right minority on a short leash, Democrats sunk themselves in political quicksand by legitimizing their far-left fringe and giving it a controlling voice. In a mad dash for votes, spineless “leaders” have kowtowed to their noisy minority, putting egg on the face of their entire party. Some, like John Fetterman and, more recently, Gavin Newsom, are doing about-faces in obvious attempts at political damage control. Who knows what these people even really believe?

Extreme progressives never spoke for the majority of Democrats, just as the alt-right never spoke for the majority of Republicans. That’s all spin designed to enrage people into throwing their money at those who vow to fix the problem, vanquish the enemy, and win the war.

So who are most of us, really?

My experience has been that we’re nothing like the pictures painted by the spin doctors on TV. We’re certainly capable of getting caught up in the culture war. That’s the whole point of spin doctoring, after all, but when we stop to engage in a civil debate with our minds open, we tend to find the balance in things. Right or Left, we all base the foundation of our views in what’s best for people, though we vehemently disagree on how to apply them.

The Right seems to feel that if we fix the infrastructure, other things will fall into place. The Left seems to chase every problem around individually, plugging leaks without regard for the ensuing buildup of water pressure elsewhere. Both sides want things to be better, they just have different philosophies about how to best make them so.

It would do us all a lot of good if we kept that in mind when confronting our perceived enemies. We’re all in this together, and most of us are not as crazy as we all think.

Zephareth Ledbetter’s latest book, “A White Man’s Perspectives on Race and Racism - Rational Thoughts on an Irrational World”, is available cheap at smashwords.com/books/view/1184004

Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.