A Proverb

The one who lives alone is self indulgent,

Showing contempt for all who have sound judgment.

-Proverbs 18:1

In an attempt to become more balanced, I have purposefully sought out conservative writing and journalism over the past year.  I paid special attention to the conservative voices in the major newspapers like George Will, Ross Douthat and recently Brett Stephens.  On top of that though, knowing that the Washington Post and the New York Times choice to publish those columnists casts some suspicion on them in certain minds, I have also read a good number of articles at The American Conservative home of Rod Dreher of the recently published Benedict Option.  I have also looked for opposing opinions on the more Libertarian slanted Reason. I still avoid the vomitous mass of Breitbart and generally cast a suspicious eye on anything bearing the Fox news label. 

This exercise in balance has generally been good for my soul, and has kept me somewhat sane as hurricane Donald continues to buffet our national psyche.  The first thing it teaches me is that there are good, sane and occasionally even compassionate people on the other side of the political divide.  There are conservatives and libertarians who are every bit as shamed and embarrassed by the Tweeter in chief as I am.  There are people who hold to the principles of small government and laissez faire economics who understand that the poor must be cared for so that the crushing effects of capitalism and globalization do not grind them underfoot.  My reading on the right has built up my faith in reasonable voices in general and challenged some of the things I had assumed which needed to be challenged.

That being said, I am even more convinced now than I was a year ago that we are living in bubbles.  On The American Conservative for instance, I have read thoughtful critiques of foreign policy, of Trump's good and bad moves, of immigration policy, of the cultural movement away from Christendom.  I have read things that I did not see anything about in the big papers, particularly regarding the Middle East.  But what I did not see, especially in the past week, is anything about the ongoing efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.  The Post and the Times have been apoplectic about the Graham-Cassidy effort to devolve health insurance regulations to the state level.  I was having trouble finding anyone who thought it was a good idea and thus am wondering why they would be risking so much on something so bad.  The only explanation I heard was that they had to do it because of the base.  They had to do it because they had promised it for so long and so vehemently.

I was reminded of the (non-biblical) proverb that you shouldn't persist in a mistake simply because you invested a lot of time and resources in making it. I wanted one of the conservative/libertarian folks that I sort of trust to tell me something about why it is a good idea, so at least I could have something positive or hopeful to lean on.  There was nothing; deafening silence, not even criticism.

I actually went to Breitbart, figuring that the bottom dwellers there would surely be hyping up some sort of state's rights argument, actually no such luck.  The only mention I saw of Graham-Cassidy was several scrolls down past all sort of nonsense and even then it was not a substantive analysis, but rather about how Trump was going to go about taking revenge on any Republicans who failed to vote for it.  I really recommend staying away from Breitbart, for the good of your soul.

Anyhow, this dichotomy of discussion proves to me that these bubbles are real things, even, and perhaps especially among the segments of writers and readers who are really seeking to be intellectually honest.  One side honestly feels like this latest repeal effort is a real danger and worthy of rounds of excoriating rhetoric.  The side that you might think would support it, doesn't say much about it at all.  My question is why?  Do they think it's doomed and don't want to hitch their intellectual wagons to a bad idea?  I actually hope that is the case, but it could also be that they want it to pass because "Obamacare is a disaster," but cannot in good conscience defend it (or any of the other so called solutions up to this point) and so are just avoiding the subject.

It would seem that on some subjects it is possible to engage in good, multi-faceted dialogue, but on other things we just sort of segregate like the boys and girls at a 6th grade dance. This is not healthy.  Proverbs continues the thread above with the following two observations:

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,

But only in expressing personal opinion.

When wickedness comes, 

Contempt comes also,

And with dishonor comes disgrace.

Let those with ears to hear take heed.