I have been following this past week’s protest in Madison, WI with quite a bit of interest. How Gov. Walker is serving up the unions on the cutting block in order to balance the budget after giving out $117 in tax breaks to business (which made the budget gap worse), and how he is only targeting the unions who opposed him in his electoral bid, would have me riled up anyway. But because other mid-western governors, including my own Gov. Kasich here in Ohio, are trying to do the same, I do have more of a personal investment in the debate. My best friend is a teacher in the Columbus area, and she would be directly affected if Kasich succeeds in cutting wages for public employees and dismantling their collective bargaining rights.
I bring this up because it demonstrates an issue where there are passionate voices on both sides. And, as with many of these kinds of debates, there are people who proclaim “Why can’t we find a middle ground?” There are many people who will express similar sentiments, saying they hate liberal and conservatives, let’s just compromise and call it a day. And, really, this is rubbish.
Because, while far be it from me to proclaim we live in a black and white world, in many cases there is a right and a wrong. For too long we have been obsessed with the idea of their being a middle ground, where two opposing sides can meet and agree and everything will work out hunky-dory. This is a wonderfully nice thought, but one that doesn’t have much practicality in reality.
Had the colonies opted to find middle ground, they never would have revolted against Great Britain, and America would never had existed as we know it today. The signing of the Declaration of Independence was an extreme action, one that would never have happened with a mindset looking for a compromise. Or take the civil rights movement of the 60s. That was an extreme action, an extreme position to take, that segregation should end and business should not be allowed to discriminate based on race. Looking for a middle ground would have yielded no changes, the “separate but equal” doctrine was already a middle ground. But it wasn’t good enough.
Heck, let’s look at one of the biggest ideological debates we have: God. Either God exists or he doesn’t exist. Anyone who says that the truth is somewhere in the middle is crazy. He can’t half exist. There is no compromise in this situation, because in many cases, there is an absolute truth. We may not know what that truth is, but it’s there, and settling for the middle ground gets us nowhere.
Now, I’m not trying to say that compromise is a bad thing, and that it should never happen. What I’m saying is that it should not be the default mindset. There is nothing more annoying then trying to create false equivalency between to opposing views and demanding they be taken as equals, when the two sides are not equal at all. Those who argue that creationism, for example, should be taught along side evolution in classrooms are idiots. “Teach the controversy,” they may say. In that case, we should teach the “controversy” that America was founded by intergalactic aliens. It amounts to the same thing. Creationism is a belief, not a scientific theory, and they are not at all equivalent. There is no middle ground to take because one has evidence to support it and the other does not. If you want to teach creationism as part of a theology class, fine, but it is in no way science.
Yet people continue to push for that mythical middle ground. To pursue some sort of balance even if balance doesn’t make sense for that particular issue. It’s a way for people to remain apathetic without having to admit they don’t care. There isn’t anything wrong with being passionate, provided you are still able to show respect and restraint when dealing with opposing views (i.e. NOT killing them or threatening violence. I’m looking at you, doctor killing pro-lifers). There is, however, something wrong with sitting idly by and hoping that some sort of compromise will come about. That the elusive common ground will be reached. It’s intellectually lazy, and it helps nothing. There are instances when a compromise is a viable solution, particularly in debates where the issue is more subjective, and based more on personal preference, than anything else. But we need to stop expecting that all arguments have this middle ground. We need to stop being apathetic and actively search what is right instead of settling for what might be easier. Other wise we will be stuck in that middle ground, crowded together, with no chance to move forward.
