In my newest book, due out Fall, 2023, I explore the damage that can happen when a person or group knows they are right; that what they believe, is the absolute truth. Those who disagree are stupid, ignorant or worse, irrelevant. Conflict becomes inevitable. The story, set in France, England, The Republic of Georgia, Iran and across the USA, is driven by the need to right a wrong.
Whether you call it a feud, a vendetta, historical correction, or something else, the practice and the beliefs behind it are among the most destructive in history. Hitler was right, he was righting the wrongs that ended WWI. Putin justifies his actions in Ukraine by explaining that Ukraine should never have become independent. (That independence was granted by a failed Russian government, directed by the West.) In the Middle East the Suni-Shite split is centuries old, both sides still arguing over who rightfully was the religious heir to Mohamed. For centuries, the Catholic-Protestant schism over who is the rightful leader of Christianity divided Europe and is still playing out in Ireland.
In the USA, the divides have become chasms. Watching the negotiations over the debt-ceiling issue was an illuminating example of that. On one side are people who truly believe that the seven articles of the Constitution as amended twenty-seven times is a blueprint for a successful America. On the other side are people who believe that inequity, injustice, and financial disparity prove that old white men, (many of them slaveholders) created a foundational document that is out of date. The argument is technically over debt, but the basis of the argument is that about 20% of the nation demands we abandon the old ways while 20% on the other end of the political spectrum are so sensitized by change that they would invade the capital to halt what they see as the erosion of the society.
In my next book, a tiny group of people who are “right,” work to create conflict hostilities between the US and Iran; a nuclear war; a conflict to right injustices of both sides against that group. Today in the US, we are allowing our grievances to create political war, where any give and take is perceived as weakness. I’m a strong constitutionalist, and truly believe that the problems in our nation are not driven by the articles of the Constitution, but rather by the fact that we have drifted from the model it gave us. Within that document, we pay too little attention to two amendments. Amendment I guarantees free speech. Amendment IX is just as important. It reads, “The enumeration of the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” Again, we need to embrace all of the rights of the people, not just those called out, and learn to discuss them rather than debate them.
One thing about the Constitution, above all others that needs to be remembered. The document’s underlying principle is that Liberty is our most important right. Free and independent people are not necessarily all the same, but we are free to strive for any status. Liberty virtually guarantees that we will not end up the same. People in prison are technically all equal, and almost everyone would give up that equality for Liberty. The political parties need to move away from entrenched means tests for membership and again embrace Liberty, including the Liberty of those who believe differently.