Let’s take a moment to examine what drives the growing divisions all around us.
Once we strip away all the labels, it comes down to whether an idea or policy will be promoted through coercion or by persuasion.
We advance our self interest in every interaction with others by either persuading them or forcing them to do what we want.
This is true on the individual level and collectively.
This is also where the right vs left paradigm begins to break down because both the political left and right are enthusiastic about using the power of government—force—to get their way.
It’s why every issue that becomes politicized, eventually becomes a raw power struggle.
Take, for example, the question of how to care for the truly needy among us.
That there is an authentic need can be plainly seen. But how to deal with that crisis quickly becomes a question of coercion versus persuasion.
Jacob Hornberger describes it like this:
“Through the threat of arrest, prosecution, incarceration, and fines, the American people are forced to be good, caring, and compassionate to others.”
Whatever good may be happening via the taking of our money, it’s not happening for the right reasons.
If an idea is so good that it must be enacted at gunpoint, it probably wasn’t such a great idea in the first place.
Great ideas must be freely chosen.
Coercion or Persuasion?