Gluttony: the wool we pull over our own eyes.

I agree with this post about how the opposite sides of the political spectrum keep arguing past each other, rather than engaging in effective political debate. It’s the most harmful thing we can do. The left and right are not naturally enemies like the cheetah and the wildebeest. Rather, the left and right are a married couple which, although quarrelsome and often vindictive, originally came together to form a union. It is through this lens of union that we need to look at each other, rather than enemies. We both have different visions of how life and government could properly be run in an ideal world (and, as a consequence of human fallibility, our compromised version thereof), but we both have to start coming together and piecing together something that works, because it’s all about to collapse.

As a left-of-center affiliate, I can acquiesce to the conservative viewpoint that terrorism is a real threat which needs the firm attention of the world community. Again, we may disagree on strategy, but we will be mired in debate and mudslinging for an eternity before we ever get anything done, if we can’t simply start pointing out where we agree.

Dear conservatives, hear me: I have proven that there are those of us in the left who can disengage from hate-mongering, put the weapons aside and grab a tool. Now, in the spirit of cooperation, we have to recognize that our own gluttony is killing us and killing the world. We in the west are blessed with abundance and opportunities for riches and material goods. We can travel anywhere in the world in less than a day, Big Gulps in hand, with a Hummer limo available to pick us up at the airport and take us to our favourite all-you-can eat buffet.

What I’m getting at is this: the Right was so turned off with Al Gore’s assertion that global warming is a bigger threat than terrorism that it has closed its ears, and Al’s pleas fall on deaf ears. This is a common liberal miscalculation: in trying to achieve awareness, the liberals—and especially the liberal media—become fear-mongers, and then what was an important line of reasoning, gets thrown out with the rest of the hype. My fellow liberals, extra exclamation marks don’t add emphasis to your point, they detract!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So let me put Mr. Gore’s words in less impassioned terms: at the rate we are going, we are facing food shortages, power shortages, mass starvation and a change in weather, the likes of which the world has never seen. The problem shouldn’t be looked at in terms of more important or less important than the threat of global terrorism. Terrorism is a real threat and people will die. Global Warming is a real threat and people will die. In both cases, the level of threat and the amount of people who have to die depends on how well left and right can come together and work together like the union they represent.