My reaction to political dialog of the past few years has caused me to carefully evaluate my own opinions on issues relative to those held by the political parties, candidates, the press, and political pundits. I have found considerable polarization on virtually every issue. I often find myself stuck somewhere in the middle. Middle of the road views are often seen as weak as evidenced by sayings such as “the only thing in the middle of a road is road kill”, or “if you stand in the middle of the road, you will get run over by those going both ways”.

There is widespread vilification of individuals on both the “right” and the “left”, who I will collectively call the “Extremes”, by members or proponents of the other side. The gatekeepers for the extremes, the PAC’s, think tanks, issue-driven organizations, etc. are afraid to compromise lest they lose their cause, and therefore their identity. The means of motivating the constituencies of these groups is fear: The fear that some fundamental right or entitlement will be lost by the least bit of compromise. Secondly, these groups can keep their constituents in line by vilifying those that have slightly different opinions. – Even if those opinion differences may be minor, or based on honest differences in background, upbringing, or current situation. Instead of bringing people together to a point of common ground, these groups prefer to attack the other side’s moral character. 

However, I have come to believe that those at the extremes trade simplicity for truth. That it’s often not our fundamental values that divide us, it’s the rhetoric and half-truths engineered to make our points that do so.

"Bridging the Gap" is a conjuring of my mind to describe a set of values that I hold, and that I believe represents the values of a great many people. By clearly describing those values, we can overlay specific issues to see what fits and what doesn’t. We can look for the truth in the positions of a wide range of individuals or groups, and seek to bind ourselves together by what we agree on while we work to understand our differences.

As time goes by, I  will add topical editorials to tie this concept to specific issues or concerns. Please feel free to send me you thoughts.

Email: jhalstead@mindspring.com