When I was a lad there were a lot of middles. There was middle America, and middle age, and the middle class, not to mention the ubiquitous middle of the road, which could be used to cover anything from politics to issues of social justice. Sure, there were always people on either end of the philosophical spectrum on just about any subject, but most of the time you could reach consensus, because the majority were… you guessed it… right in the middle of the road.
These days there seem to be less and less folks in the middle. It’s as if we’re all caught up in some large NASA centrifuge that is spinning faster and faster on its axis, with centrifugal force pulling everyone in one direction or the other. Extremes have become the norm. Trying to stay in the middle is becoming virtually impossible.
Economically speaking, there is no more middle class. There are the rich who are getting richer and the poor who are getting poorer. Executive pay is going up at the same time cash strapped governments are cutting services for the needy. Little white bungalows with picket fences, the sure sign of a middle class family in my youth, are going down in a blaze of foreclosures as laid off middle class workers are joining the ranks of the unemployed and the soup kitchen lines. And if you’ve got anything left, rich credit card and insurance companies are raising their interest rates and monthly premiums just in time to keep you in the hole.
But it’s politically speaking where the loss of the middle is most evident and most ominous. Radicals are no longer the exception, they are the norm. Fundamentalists of every shape and size are pushing their various agendas spouting their hateful, “If you’re not with me, you’re against me”, polemics that leave no room for middle of the road conciliation or consensus. Believe what you want to, that’s just fine. But to believe that your way is the only way to be, that’s just wrong. And yelling it at the top of your voice just to drown out the opposing view is just plain stupid.
America was built on the strength of a variety of peoples, each presenting differing views, opinions, experiences, and beliefs into the mix. That’s what made us unique, strong, and vibrant. In the same way families that inbreed end up producing weak blooded idiots, the more our country stifles the dissidents and becomes homogeneous, as the radicals would like, the weaker we will become. Interesting, isn’t it, how we can cluck our tongues and wag our fingers at fundamentalists with different agendas and different beliefs while avoiding looking in the mirror that shows we are becoming no different than they are.
Ultimately, it may not make a difference. Perhaps we were not the ones destined to lead humanity into the next level of consciousness, the next level of being. At least we’re not a total waste. We can always be used as a bad example.
peace……………..ag
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