WE must UNITE on issues, not DIVIDE on labels.

/ hsoi

I think we need to reframe things.

We’re stuck in this “Democrat vs. Republican” or “Liberal vs. Conservative”, “Occupy” vs “Tea Party” mentality. Both in terms of how we look at things, and how we debate the issues.

It’s making us blind.

It’s dividing and making us weak.

We need to leave that behind.

It’s no longer about that, and cannot be.

Case in point.

There’s a pirate radio station here in Austin, Texas Liberty Radio. For ages I’ve seen the sign on Mo-Pac (a major highway running North-South through Austin) advertising it, and finally I tuned in to give me something different to listen to on my daily commute. The lady was talking about the dangers of the stuff in our food, specifically pointing out aspartame.

At the same time, I saw one of my “liberal” friends post about “Big Dairy’s” current move to put aspartame in milk. And the conversation goes on about the dangers of the stuff in our food, specifically pointing out aspartame.

These are two groups who, according to the old labels, are polar opposites and should never agree: the Libtards and the Teabaggers. But here they are, speaking out against the same thing. There are some minor differences, with the former talking about it more in terms of food supply and how it can mess with your body, and how the government is involved in a bad way. The latter is talking about it more in terms of how bad it is for your health, and the evils of big corporate lobbies having more influence over the government (than the people supposedly governed).

They are far more united than they are different. They both agree about the dangers of aspartame. They both agree that it’s bad for you. They both agree it’s bad to add it to food. They both agree that the government is playing a dangerous game here. They both agree the government cares more about money and power than about people.

Yes there are some differences, but that will always be the case so long as people are involved. But the more I listen to people on “both sides”, the more I see that we’re actually upset at the same thing: the consolidation of power in the hands of a few. These few tend to be involved in government, at the top of particular large corporations, and are more interested in growing their own wealth and power than caring for the people they are supposedly serving — because whether they are elected public servants (*cough cough*) or are CEO’s, they are supposed to be serving citizens or shareholders. Either way, they are to be servants, not greedy, lustful, power-hungry, self-serving.

We may differ on the specifics, but most all of us are in the same boat.

So instead of continuing to be divided along labels, why aren’t we being united by our issues? by our causes?

Are you willing to move beyond the division of labels, and unite in our causes?

8 thoughts on “WE must UNITE on issues, not DIVIDE on labels.”

  1. I see this of kind lament from time to time and while I agree that, when there is agreement we should work together. However, far too often there is no agreement or even if there is, the respective solutions to the agreed upon problems are at such odds that you’re essentially back to disagreeing. My case in point is the OWS vs. Tea Party. To the extent that OWS stood for anything, the two agreed that the bank bailout of 2008 was wrong and benefited a select few. The TP stance was it was due the unholy alliance that has developed between business and government and said a return to the Constitutional restraints on federal power would solve this problem. OWS complained that the “main street” should have gotten the bailout not “wall street.” The two solutions are 180 degrees out of phase. Not much room to work together there.

    It is human nature to be greedy, lustful, power-hungry, and self-serving. The brilliance of this country’s form of government was that man’s folly was inherently understood and so we limited the amount of power any one man could garner. Even if we agree on the problem, until we understand and agree on our own human frailties and shortcomings, our solutions to problems will always be at odds.

    Respectfully submitted,

    jt

    • What I think part of the problem is how nasty and ugly we’ve become towards each other… that if you disagree it’s a “fuck you, asshole” sort of response and mentality. “Common sense ideas” mean “my ideas”… “discussion” means “you shut up and listen to me preach”… and the like. Yes you’re right, some things can be so polar opposite, but it used to be we would and could still work with each other. That’s rare or nonexistent now.

      In the end tho… you’re right about human nature, and that we seem to have forgotten it is also at the root of the problem.

  2. The two-party system is broken. The sequester debacle is just the latest in a series of glaring examples that Republicans aren’t true conservatives and the Democrats aren’t true progressives. And this idea of pigeonholing people into the stereotypically defined categories is not a reality-based construct. The media-at-large has perpetuated this idea that you are either/or and that just isn’t reflective of us as a culture nor of us as individuals.

    • So what you’re saying is… turn off the TV and start thinking for yourself? It just might work. 🙂

  3. The Calm Voice of Reason? Wow! Is true, though. Rough part is to convince the people mooching off the government (us) to vote against the power people who pass out the goodies.Romney was right- 47% is a hard number to overcome.

    • It is tough to say “no” to the hand that hands things out to you…. and human nature probably is such that it won’t, unless it starts to care about larger issues. So the question may be, how to get them to willingto give it up… to get them to start caring about the larger, bigger picture? I don’t know the answer to that question, but it may be one worth exploring.

  4. Both the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street agree that crony capitalism is a problem. The Tea Party wants to keep the capitalism and get rid of the cronyism, while Occupy Wall Street wants to keep the cronyism and get rid of the capitalism.

    The OWS solution to the problem of big government being corrupt is to make it bigger.

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