Culture wars and the social pendulum are familiar terms in the Social Sciences, the ‘soft sciences,’ and are useful constructs. Representing the culture wars is the swing of a pendulum with it periodically changing direction with the pendulum always accelerating towards the center point. The direction the pendulum is tracking, either to the right or to the left, is easily determined by following the mainstream media coverage, or lack thereof, of politics and social issues. If those on the far left are screaming about unfair practices, the pendulum is moving rightward, otherwise it is sliding leftward. Culture wars are often depicted (see below) as a tug of war between the following; conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans, and the Left and the Right. This representation of the field politic leaves one very obvious and definitively important reality, the culture appears to have moved ever progressively to the left when viewing history in the long term. Represented below by the smaller blue Liberal Left individual pulling the fulcrum’s oversized tack to the left, often with no opposing effort from the right, is that historical reality. Sorry to those disturbed by this but it is the reality. Technical progress allows for a better and easier life in the advanced industrial nations and also to the rest of the developing world with less obvious changes.
So, if the entire pendulum is going to always move leftward, why should conservatives and traditionalists even bother to resist and pull the pendulum to the right? Conservatives have a similar responsibility as a parent caring for their children, making sure the society does not run wildly off the rails by slowing that trend allowing all of society to move as one. Conservatives must temper the wilder fantasies of the social left who are always attempting to initiate these fantasies into the society. Another way of viewing this situation is the Leftists provide the push to move society while those from the Right attempt to steer the society such that it does not crush or lose the innate rights granted to sentient beings. These are the rights referred to by the Declaration of Independence the colonists filed with King George of Britain demanding rights granted by the Creator. The numbers and depth of these rights have steadily increased as humanity makes progress and advances technically, socially, scientifically and in interpersonal relations. So, hopefully both sides will continue to make their voices heard and efforts felt while steering society forward without ever reaching that point of contention that violence becomes the only option remaining. We must find the path where all are mostly comfortable thus guiding our way forward with at least a minutia of intelligence.
Beyond the Cusp
Beyond the Cusp 
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