Unity is over-rated
And, as Andrew Ferguson points out at The Weekly Standard, it is myth:
"Our infatuation with 'unity' is a recurring delusion of American politics. Among the many examples are the hapless attempts that political geeks make year after year to form third parties that will transcend ideology and return us to our natural, prelapsarian state of cooperation. Ross Perot capitalized on the delusion by telling voters they could join together, hire a managerial expert to run the government 'like a business,' and do away with a political class that was driving them apart (and not paying enough attention to him). The most recent and consequential example of it is the mesmerism of Barack Obama's presidential campaign."
I've always gotten more out of disagreement than agreement. Read the rest here.
Thanks, David.
My favorite passage from the Ferguson piece:
"Obama's "new politics of unity" would end "the old politics of division" by labeling those old politicians and their arguments irredeemably corrupt, hence unworthy of consideration. Obama's supporters were asked to divide the country between those who were united--that would be them--and those who weren't, for whatever reason. In a platform trick reminiscent of Huey Long, Obama actually asked his supporters during campaign rallies how much money they made, the better to drive them away from the unsavory, nonunited elements that earn more than they do."
If you haven't read Andrew Ferguson's "Fools' Names, Fools' Faces," you're in for a treat. I think I've read it three times, now.
By the way, Ferguson and Rob Long are being interviewed this week at NRO's "Uncommon Knowledge."
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