beneath the superficial left-right political dynamic resides a fundamental personality difference (in varying degrees) in most people. it is reflected in one's ability to embrace change. citizen/voters are basically born with a left/right divide, and the tendency to lean left or right depending on how insecure one feels in the light of the great searchlight of change approaching has a genetic component. if you are fearful, nervous, reluctant to change your ideas and your behavior — insecure, maybe sometimes verging on the paranoid — you will reject new ideas from wherever they come, left or right, and you will consider your own needs much more than the general good. if you are more confident, secure and open in your basic personality you will consider new ideas — one would hope rationally — and be willing to accept and promote change that seems to solve emerging problems for the majority of people.
the middle, if there is one, is where the pragmatist who changes his alignment depending more on issues and perceived need than ideology exists.
in the end, darwinian nature is profoundly pragmatic and the model that best suits that understanding of life in all its forms is to think of public actions and political directions from the vantage point of the 'least harm model'. there are times when to hold to the existing way of living against threats of change is the safest path. there are times when to hold to the existing way of living is suicidal. it is up to us to think about it, to think about what is truly needed, not for ourselves alone, but for the majority and the planet.
[though debate is healthy, natural and necessary, selfishness rarely does improve society. greed is seldom good. more thoughtful and empathetic people already know this. it is time for protectionist, nationalist gun-owners, and other single-issue citizens, along with all those megalomaniacs, to stop shouting and step aside.]
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