IF YOU were attentive when walking to class last week, you may have seen the bearded strangers outside Clark Hall. Their shoulder-length frizz and beat-up shoes gave them a rugged hippie look, utterly out of place on a campus of tailored suits and boat shoes. They held a sign with big block letters, but they did not appear to be protesting anything. The sign merely invited discussion: "DO GOOD AND EVIL TRULY EXIST?"
Most passersby, myself included, ignored the two strangers. We dismissed them as jobless losers - probably not a bad guess, considering 14 million Americans are now unemployed - with too much free time. We had no patience for their outdated philosophical queries. Having more practical things to attend to, we dismissed their moralistic question as irrelevant and continued on our paths.\nThis sudden appearance of the University's underground hippie cohort coincides with an eruption of political controversies throughout the United States: the Troy Davis execution, President Obama's deficit reduction plan, Virginia's regulations on abortion clinics, the Republican primary debates and everything out of Rick Perry's mouth.
This endless stream of controversy highlights a depressing fact - that nearly every issue in U.S. politics is divisive and polarizing. Republicans and Democrats cannot seem to find common ground anywhere. Logic and reason are shunted aside for verbal attacks and dogmatic tirades. More and more, our politics are dominated by zealous extremists instead of rational moderates. Worse yet, the New Extremism is welcomed and rewarded by the U.S. public and the media.
The New Extremism has turned our politics into a battlefield. The nation is trapped in a warlike mentality, where hatred for the Other is the main drive for political participation. Republicans cheer wildly each time Rick Perry's record-high execution count is mentioned, displaying the bloodlust of a jeering crowd at a public stoning. The Tea Party movement, which was built solely upon ideological divisions, continues to rouse supporters through hate-filled speeches and sponsored protests.
Liberals are similarly guilty. President Obama's latest speeches on the economy skew basic facts in order to portray his enemies as bigoted and backwards, and to depict his own tax reform plan as a triumph over the Evil Billionaires.
Since the Bush-era, liberal media rarely has taken Republican candidates seriously, preferring instead to gleefully stream their gaffes for amusement. The popularity of The Daily Show and The Huffington Post is contingent on the belief that Democrats are intellectually superior to the millions of middle Americans who distrust an excessively large government. For Democrats, political campaigns are a "poetic confrontation" of good, i.e. themselves, and evil, i.e. Karl Rove.
The New Extremism is a parasite. Compromise is no longer the goal for which it is worth fighting. The goal instead is to rile up voters through relentless attacks on the other party. Take for example, our own Gov. Bob McDonnell and his ideological crusade against abortion.
In the past decade, McDonnell has redefined abortion as "infanticide" in Virginia law and deemed partial-birth abortion a Class Four felony for mothers. The latest and most brutal legislation targeting the procedure came last week in the form of "emergency regulations" on abortion clinics. The regulations, approved by the state legislature and the Virginia Board of Health, were criticized by health advocates for being draconian and unnecessary. Many liberals saw it as "back-door legislation" designed purposely to restrict a woman's access to abortion, which is a right protected by the Constitution.
The Virginia Board of Health was unyielding, refusing any of the proposed amendments to the bill. The state's 22 abortion clinics now face potential shutdown. McDonnell, on the other hand, is celebrating. His approval ratings are through the roof. The New Extremism is greatly popular with people who see the world through a polarized lens - in shades of black and white, evil and good.\n"DO GOOD AND EVIL TRULY EXIST?" Some questions are worth pondering. This one demands we rethink our black-and-white perception of politics, ourselves and the entire world. It forces us to delve deeper, to look for nuanced answers instead of easy ones.
The New Extremism has narrowed all our minds, and taught us to think of politics as nothing more than a battle between Good and Evil. But Good and Evil are elementary concepts, hard to define and harder to adhere to. Politics built on such partisan lines stifles progress; it is repetitive and disillusioning.
What would Jefferson have done that morning when faced with those two placid strangers, asking a question that could not be answered without sincere effort? A deeply intellectual man, Jefferson believed in the highest form of discourse, both in politics and at the University he endowed. He believed that academic institutions like ours should act as the nation's conscience when its political dialogue loses its depth and vitality.
By having deeper, less biased political conversations on Grounds, we can ensure that our generation treats its politics in a more civilized, productive manner than its predecessors. We can challenge federal and state politicians to drop the childish pageantry they currently are orchestrating, and for once begin a serious, intellectual debate on the issues. The country would benefit enormously if our politicians discussed the roots of their differences, instead of trading insults like children on a playground. It is about time we raise the level of our political dialogue.
Shefali Hegde is a second-year College student.
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