On being an odd, and therefore non-daffy duck

A useful way of understanding the struggle between the American right and the American left is to see it as a contest between freedom and equity. If you value freedom more, you are likely to be a conservative and probably a Republican. If equality and justice are more important to you, you're more likely to be a "progressive" and probably a Democrat.

I habitually put quotation marks around the word "progressive" because those who like to describe themselves that way sometimes have somewhat regressive attitudes when it comes to people who disagree with them. They have that in common with the people of whom they are most critical.

Myself, I'm an odd duck. I see freedom and equity as impossible to separate.  I would argue that a free society cannot survive without equality and justice and that equality and justice can exist only in an open society. All must be free to appeal to them.  I'm reluctant to choose between the two, and if I favor equity perhaps a little more, it's not without being very unwilling to limit freedom.

In short, I'd insist, as many libertarians and Trumpists and "progressives" would not, that  (as Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Stuart Mill, and Abraham Lincoln are all quoted as saying), "Your freedom to swing your fist ends at the point of my nose." Freedom to go maskless in public and even to freely come and go ends when doing so becomes a threat to others' health and safety. Moreover, I find it difficult to see how anyone with any ethical moorings whatsoever or any understanding of the Constitution could disagree. On the other hand, I would distinguish between discrimination against gays and lesbians and the right of individuals to believe their own religions with regard to sexual ethics without being falsely labeled as bigots for their attitude toward behavior and to conduct their own lives in a manner which those religions do not condemn as sinful.

Ours is not an age that is comfortable with nuance or careful distinctions. Our polarization is due more than anything else, I think, to our near-universal desire to perform the surgery necessary to cure what is wrong with the body politic with a meat cleaver rather than with a scalpel. Distinguishing between what, to use Jefferson's phrase, "neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket," and what violates the sovereign rights of others is not a widely-practiced skill these days. 

I'm already seeing signs of the struggle between freedom and equality stressing the tenuous coalition between center-right and center-left that elected Joe Biden president.  He is a pro-choice president, for example, with a component of his coalition that is staunchly pro-life. It would be unreasonable to expect him to change his position to please the minority of his supporters to disagree with it. But there can be no doubt that too great a stress on abortion rights could cause us center-right Biden supporters to waiver in our support. As it is, I'm skeptical that the coalition can last indefinitely; I see the birth of a centrist party of a more socially conservative bent to be a matter of when rather than if.

But for now, it's in everybody's interest to keep the coalition together as long as possible. That means being patient with each other and listening at least as much as we speak. Modeling civility for the rest of the nation in their own intermural dialogue could well turn out to be one of the most important things the two wings of the Biden coalition can do.

As I've said before, we center-right Biden supporters do not expect Democrats to stop being Democrats or "progressives" to stop being "progressives." We do not ask for "a seat at the table;" we only ask for the common-sense recognition that the coalition can only survive through mutual respect and dialog and will inevitably collapse in their absence. And it had better survive, at least in the short term; that's the only way our freedom can survive, and if those of us who voted for Joe Biden can't accommodate our differences, it's hard to see how we can expect the nation to do so.

ADDENDUM: This video features Jordan Peterson explaining the psychological reasons why people tend to gravitate to the right or to the left- why we need those annoying people who vote for the other party. I wish everybody in the country would watch it.