Meeting In the Middle

RECENT STUDIES provide insights into people's political proclivities, based on educational level. It turns out that the better educated people are generally, the greater the likelihood that they will end up leaning left. "Education" here means formal education. Author Gore Vidal, for instance, never attended college, but educated himself and became a first rate author and historical scholar. For the rest of us, good lluck with that. Folks who never attended school, an increasing rarity in the United States, seem to often have no discernable political opinions, little or no interest in politics. High school dropout in the United States tend, by a large margin, towards conservatism. High school graduates as a rule are somewhat more progressive, and people with some college under their belts more progressive still. College graduates are, by a large majority, progressive, and people with advanced graduate degrees are almost uniformly liberal, which, as one might recall, is what progressives used to be called, before the word "liberal" was turned into a dirty word by conservatives, just as conservatives managed to to sully words like "socialism" and "atheist". The better educated folks are, in a formal sense, the more likely they are to be liberals. Granted, there are many well educated right wingers, and many highly intelligent well educated people without a formal education. Generalities, however, are often indicative, and instructive. The definition of a conservative is a person who embraces the status quo, and wishes to retain it. Conserve, retain. A liberal, or progressive, whichever, tends to advocate change, being dissatisfied with the world as it is. Tradition, versus innovation. Change is not always progress, but progress is always change. It isn'tso much that conservatives summarily reject any and all social change. Its just that they want to approach the inevitability of change with a deliberate, slower, more cautious approach. As my conservative father admonished me: Precipitous action is always unwise. Maybe its more fun and exciting, but...risky. A wise philosopher and good friend of mine defined a gambler as anybody who gets out of bed in the morning. Regarding the current and maddeningly lingering, much discussed national political division in the land of freedom, there is no shortage of opinions concerning its causes and possible solutions. Its not that we want every American to be on teh same page in every possible aay on every issue, its jsut that we would likely benefit from an intentional, concerted, concious effort not to eliminate it, or to eliminate all disagreements among ourselves and to seek uniformity of opinion across teh board, but rather, to at least allow us to live in peace, with some degree of harmony, not only in the same universe, but on the same planet, in the same country. This would not appear to be too much to ask. Maybe we should all remind ourselves that there are no political purebreeds. Witin every human heart and mind, if you dig deep enough, you will find elements of both liberal and conservative thought and opinion. All human beings embody all human characteristics, to one degree or another. It wouldn't hurt any of us to open our minds a little, and at least try to see the world as others do, especially others with whom we disagree. Maybe we could all move, just a little, towards the center. We can alsways stop moving if and when it becomes painful. As for me, I'm still willing to give Trump a chance, but if I ever find myself advocating, say, deporting every undocumented dark skinned immigrant from the country, which would devastate our agriculture industry, I hope I will recognize that I have gone far too far towards the center.