Member-only story
Buddha, Confucius, and Politics Today
It’s time to get over “I’m right and you are wrong”
For too long, we imagine that politics is about compromises. The left and the right want opposite things. So politics and good governance is about splitting the difference and meeting each other in the middle. Politics is but bazaar haggling writ large.
This is not working, first, because politics is becoming more and more polarized. It does not matter who you blame it on: social media, special interests propaganda, corporate media, politicized religion, identity politics, Trump, and the list goes on. What matter is that this process of political compromise can be gamed by politicians, special interests, activists, intelligence agencies, and practically any party who wants to get involved. The list of tactics these players use likewise goes on: shifting goal posts, stonewalling, bait and switch, shaming, posturing, etc., etc. As a result, we have stopped solving problems. Climate change, wealth disparity, school shooting, Covid-19, etc., etc., are no longer problems to be solved but things to fight over to prove one’s allegiance and moral worth.
But there is a deeper second reason why political compromise is not working. To understand this, we need to look at what ancient wisdom says about being in the middle. It is completely different from what we think of as meeting in the…