Dennis Sanders, in his blog at Rise of the Center (riseofthecenter.com), relies upon another Brooks column to issue his diagnosis of what’s wrong with Washington.
“Folks inside and outside of Washington see politics as a religion,” Sanders writes. “Speaking from some experience, I can tell you that religion is at its heart an emotional concern. It’s why we can believe something like say, that a Jewish carpenter was actually the Son of God even when there isn’t a lot of physical evidence to prove it.
“Believing in the unbelievable is what makes religion a religion. But that kind of emotion makes for terrible politics. Brooks shares how politics as a religion has corrupted American political culture:
“’Many issues that were once concrete and practical are distorted because they have become symbolic and spiritual. Tax policy isn’t just about how to raise revenue anymore. Liberals see it as a way to punish the greedy and redress the iniquities of capitalism. Conservatives see tax increases as an assault on the enterprising class perpetrated by arrogant central planners. A tax rate could be seen as just a number signifying an expense, but now it’s a marker in a culture war.
“’Gun policy isn’t about what specific weaponry should be in private hands. It’s seen as an assault on or defense of the whole rural lifestyle, so to compromise on any front is to court dishonor.
“’President Obama’s Green Tech initiative has become a policy disaster — not only at Solyndra but at one program after another — because its champions ignored basic practical considerations. They were befogged by their own visions of purity and virtue.’
Sanders continues: “If liberals and conservatives could set our emotions to the side, then maybe our politicians could actually govern without worrying that they just might commit some cardinal sin. Brooks is right to focus on tax policy. In order to right our fiscal ship, we are going to have to raise some taxes and cut some spending. But both parties have made their view of taxes their version of the Ten Commandments — something that is never to be broken.
“The question is, can we ‘let go’ of the need to be right? I think the answer lies in finding politicians who are able to act dispassionately. There was some hope that President Obama was going to be such a politician, but for whatever reason, that didn’t pan out.”
