Unwilling to Compromise

One of the reasons that conservatism is having such a resurgance in America is in response to 9/11. This is not a particularly insightful comment, it is simply meant to lead me into an interesting allegory.

Many, previously moderate, Americans have become more hawkish over the last five years, in large part because they perceive (and not unreasonably) the enemy to be intransigent, unwilling to compromise, and unable to be trusted to act in moderation. This, of course, means that many Americans who might otherwise be willing to act moderately, feel that if they give up anything, the other side will exploit this 'weakness' rather than reciprocate.

If we consider the less deadly but very real conflict between liberals and conservatives over social, domestic issues we see a very similar pattern. Many on the left, for example, are not ideologically opposed to cutting abortions or allowing expressions of religious faith in public areas. Many on the left are themselves strongly religious.

The problem arises in large part because we on the left believe (again not unreasonably) that if we were to compromise on issues like spousal notification or 24-hour waiting periods for abortions, anti-choice advocates would not reciprocate by moderating their stance, but would use it as an opportunity to press home the advantage, such is the absolute nature of their beliefs.

This amounts to little more than saying that extremism begets extremism, which is an age-old truth. More to the point it reminds us that absolutism and an unwillingness to compromise will never be a likely course towards peace either domestically or internationally.