The recent MTV Awards show is front and center—and behind—in today’s Internet news headlines. From “Megan Fox Wears Naked See-Through Dress Arriving to 2021 MTV VMAs with Machine Gun Kelly,” to Troye Sivan’s chopped-top-and-little-boy-knickers outfit, to Madonna’s cheeky butt-you’ve-seen-it-before costume, the theme appeared to be, “If you’ve got it—or even too much of it—flaunt it.”
And while on the “liberal” side this brazen self-indulgence pushes ever further against the limits of propriety, on the “conservative” side, loyal Trumpists carry on their angry defiance of historic norms and medical best practices by continuing to reject COVID vaccinations and fighting mask mandates. As each day 100,000 Americans are infected with COVID, and 3,000 die, “conservatives” flaunt their refusal to wear masks while “liberals” flaunt their refusal to wear clothes. And the divide grows.
As far apart as the two sides are, they still have one thing in common, angry defiance: “No one will deprive me of my rights!”
At the extreme of either side, any thought of moderation based on concern and compassion for one’s neighbor seems to be as exceptional as a modest outfit at an entertainment awards ceremony or an admission of a mistake at a Trump rally. As far apart as the two sides are, they still have one thing in common, angry defiance: “No one will deprive me of my rights!”
I place the terms “liberal” and “conservative” in quotation marks because in both cases we’re seeing radicals taking their side’s founding philosophies to perilous extremes.
Classic conservatism was based on the notions of limited government and a free market—for creeds as well as commerce. Any business or viewpoint should be allowed to compete in an open marketplace. Meanwhile, classic liberalism was based on the notion of governments as the guarantor and protector of freedom and equality for all. Both systems were born from noble principles, but both have largely been co-opted by radical extremists. And as those extremists—gaining numbers on both sides—push the boundaries ever further, the national divide grows.
Radical “conservatives” have lost sight of free-market principles. These new “conservatives”—who were never conservatives in the classic sense—want a government that gives special privileges to businesses they value and that censors philosophies and religions they disagree with while promoting a narrow version of “conservative” white traditionalism and nationalism.
Meanwhile, radical “liberals” continue to push the boundaries of modesty and sexual expression, promoting an anything-goes version of “liberal” licentiousness.
Standing in-between the two radical elements are sensible moderates, liberal and conservative, whose differences from each other is now often less than their differences with the radicals of their own persuasion. As radical elements within each of America’s two historic parties continue to move further toward either extreme, perhaps it really is time for a third party, one composed of the alienated moderates from the Republican and Democratic parties.
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