Political Reason and Moderation

Kudos to Brian Keegan of Centerfield for posting links that "encourage understanding between the sides and moderation." In that post he provides the link to (and he quotes from) an op-ed piece, Debunking Political Stereotypes, written by Boston Globe columnist Cathy Young. Ms. Young takes issue with the left calling themselves "the reality-based community," and -- as you might have guessed from the title of her piece -- shoots down a few stereotypes on both sides of the political fence. She has previously commented on the deep division that is all too apparent after the election. My favorite lines:

"President Bush has been accused of pursuing divisive policies. But let's face it, promoting crude stereotypes of slightly more than half the electorate is not exactly the way to promote understanding."

And...

"Democracy is great; but in a divided culture democracy means that roughly half the people will live under a government they did not elect. That's one good reason to limit the federal government's intervention in our lives and to give more of the decision-making power to local governments, private institutions, and individuals."

You can read more of Cathy Young's work at Reason Online. And I encourage you to do so.