The two primary forces at work in American politics can be boiled down to: 1) a desire to maintain tradition and 2) an openness to progressive evolution. The former tend to hearken back to former, “better” times, while the latter lean into the prospect of novel, more enlightened times. While both aim for the betterment of society, the natural tension between them tends to define the political landscape.

This is not a new phenomenon in human society. For example, consider this little gem in Yoshida Kenko’s Essays in Idleness, which was written roughly 800 years ago in medieval Japan:

One yearns for the old world in every way. Modern fashions just seem to grow more and more vulgar.

The most beautiful finely crafted wooden utensils are those from the old days. As for letters, those old ones on reused scraps are written in wonderful language. Everyday speech is also going from bad to worse. Someone who remembers the old days once remarked, “Back then, people used to say “lift the carriage” or “raise the flame”, but now it is always “lift up the carriage” or “raise up the flame”. It is also a great shame the way that instead of the old “groundsmen to the standing lights” people now say “light the lamps”, and they will insist on shortening the Imperial Audience Chamber for the Sutra Lectures to simply “The Imperial Lecture Room”.

Our politics need not be defined by political men and selfish supporters who ply these seemingly incompatible worldviews to their personal and party advantage. We need not acquiesce to mistrust, resentment, greed, and a race for power. Instead, we must be men in revolt: men who see that there is a common good in which all men can achieve solidarity.

Our shared dignity is at stake. Let us rise up, not in rebellion, but by rejecting acquiescent thinking. Let us display strength by having candid discussion of the ideas that move us to our common goal, without attacking one another like animals backed into a corner or like cowardly thieves on a darkened street corner.

There is a balance point—a place betwixt past and future—where all can be at rest, where agreement is possible, and peace reigns. Let us commune there. Otherwise, we’ll simply continue to play out this foolish and unnecessary that is utterly unresolvable by one side defeating another.