FRAMING THE ISSUE SERIES:  2012 BATTLE LINES Part IV

Even to the casual observer, it is apparent that we in the United States are in a time during which national public policy agreement on most substantive issues is difficult to achieve.  We have submitted in these pages that the reason for this impasse is that a chasm has opened within the electorate between competing visions for the Country and the Federal Government's role in it.  We further assert that, between these competing visions, compromise is impossible.  We assert that we must choose.  In a several-part series of Framing the Issue, we explore the Battle Lines.

Relative vs. Absolute

A large swath of the electorate has come to see the world from a pronounced relative viewpoint.  Most everything is grey, muddy, complex, debatable.  Examples are all around us.  A man is sentenced to death for a brutal murder; pleas are made on his behalf in light of abuse that he may have suffered early in life.  A child is deficient in academic achievement; excuses are made in light of