Trust and a Principled Society

We know that our nation has become politically polarized.  We know that Americans look at exactly the same events and, depending on their ideological affiliation, come to diametrically opposed conclusions.  The impasse we are at is, however, far worse.

Feedback from readers of my columns tells me that many conservatives no longer trust liberals.  It is not merely that they do not trust them on a political level; they are wary of them on a personal level.  Having seen public figures assailed in restaurants, they wonder if the same could happen if a liberal takes offense at them.

For months now I have also been hearing from friends and relatives that they no longer believe they can vote Democratic.  Most of these folks have hitherto prided themselves on choosing the person rather than the party.  Nevertheless, they are so distraught thanks to the left’s sleazy anti-Trump tactics that they cannot bear to support anyone associated with these lies and distortions.

In short, our society is falling apart.  On an individual, and not merely a communal level, we are fragmenting. Nerves have become so jangled that candid conversations become battlegrounds.  This is dangerous.  It is dangerous for us personally; it is dangerous for our national integrity.

In my book A Principled Society: Cultivating Trust in a World of Strangers(available on Amazon) I write about the importance of shared moral standards in maintaining social solidarity.  No mass society can control potential conflicts if most of its members are not committed to common values.

As I have heretofore contended, the core principles in a mass techno-commercial society must be: honesty, personal responsibility, fairness (i.e., the same rules for all), liberty, and family commitments.  If these are not widely honored, it is difficult to feel confident about persons we do not know.  

Today liberals have egregiously violated these principles. Despite their self-righteousness, they have defiled each and every one of them.  As a result, they invite distrust.  While I am aware that those on the left regard this indictment as a smear, the corroborating evidence piles up.

To begin with, not a day goes by without a blizzard of liberal lies. These talking points are manufactured in Washington, propagated in the media, and then repeated in conversations among friends.  Nonsense, such as Trump’s alleged collusion with the Russians, is recited as if it were gospel.

But is it is not just truth that has been strangled.  So has personal responsibility.  Thus, the current Supreme Court travesty is suffused with reckless conduct.  Pretenses of indignation cover up the most egregious violations of elementary justice.

Why did Senator Diane Feinstein withhold sexual charges made against Judge Brett Kanavaugh?  If they were serious, why weren’t they confidentially investigated?  Keeping them under wraps until they could be used in a last minute ambush was grossly irresponsible.  It was nothing less than character assassination.

Then once the charges were made, the Democrats had an opportunity to participate in examining them.  They instead chose not to cooperate with the senate judiciary committee’s investigators. If they were interested in the truth, there was no reason to sit on the sidelines.

Responsible people exercise due diligence.  Responsible people respect the rules of evidence.  They do not incessantly demand candidate information they do not intend to read. 

We know what this is about.  The goal is delay.  The hope is that a new congress will make it impossible for president Trump to put a conservative justice on the Supreme Court.  Democratic politicians have said as much.  Indeed, they are proud of their record of obstruction.

This is not responsible conduct.  It is political warfare carried out by any means that might prove effective. Nonetheless, if a democracy is to remain a democracy, there must be limits.  There have to be tactics deemed so unfair that they are never employed.

This, however, is not the liberal stance.  They are instead prepared to blow up our time-honored traditions in order to enforce ideological mandates.  And so they dissemble, they pretend to be aggrieved, and they hinder basic tenets of democratic governance.

Is it any wonder that they are not trusted?  Not only do they lie and behave irresponsibly, but they do so without a shred of guilt.  Their allegiance to our shared principles has eroded so drastically that they are no longer restrained by a sense of decency.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University