The American consensus

It’s an important point. We live in a big country. We have strong regional
differences. We have many ethnic backgrounds. We have many religious faiths. We
come from many different types of families. We have many different work ethics,
educational backgrounds, dreams, desires, mores, lifestyles, colors and sports
allegiances. 

So having some fierce partisan differences shouldn’t be that shocking. 

Partisanship is a good thing, as long as it serves a larger purpose. And that
larger purpose is to find ways for this big country to somehow get along.  

Civil society is not easy in a big country likes ours. 

It requires patience, understanding, flexibility, leadership, politeness,
manners and an appreciation for other points of view. 

Federalism is important in a big country like ours, because it allows different
regions to develop different customs. That is important, because it is really
hard to reach consensus on everything. 

Race is one issue where it has been almost impossible to reach a national
consensus. In fact, we fought one hot war over the issue (the Civil War) and
one colder war (the civil rights struggle).  

But race was an important issue to sort out, because it goes to the heart of
our national character. The election of Barack Obama seemingly put that issue
to rest once and for all, but a national consensus on race has still proven to
be an elusive target.

Beyond the issues of race and interstate commerce, federalism is a pretty
important way to basically “punt” on issues that can’t be resolved at the
national level. On issues like gay marriage, abortion, gambling and liquor,
regional differences are strongly divergent, making consensus difficult.  

But that is OK. We don’t always have to agree on everything. We just have to
find a process to agree on the things that we have to agree on (like national
security, debt, etc.) and punt on the things we don’t have to agree on. 

Luckily, we already have such a process. It is called the Constitution.

Visit www.thefeeherytheory.com.