By BOB FUSELIER 
Los Alamos 

How can someone point out to another a concern about the other’s beliefs without creating conflict or animosity? What if that problem involves politics?

I think most would agree that critiquing someone’s political views is really asking for trouble. I’m also willing to guess that many of you readers are wondering at this point if it’s your political view that I’m fixing to call into question.

Our species has struggled with a man-made conflict throughout our history, one that is set as two opposing realities for regulating society but, in reality, is simply a continuum of one potential possibility for mankind. The first acts as the beginning of societal stability; the second maintains and perfects the first. Without the first, society has no chance of forming. Without the second, society eventually destroys itself.

What unites most people in their political views is that they believe that governments can solve what they see as the root of societal problems. Those on the political “right” tend to believe that governments can provide for a moral society, while those on the political “left“ tend to believe that governments can create a compassionate society. Governments can create laws and regulations to minimize behaviors that harm society but have no power to make someone moral. Governments can also provide safety nets that help minimize social stress, but no government can move anyone towards compassion.

Governments are created to provide for their societies that which the individuals alone cannot or will not do. They can provide security from those who wish to cause others or the society harm, but they cannot make someone ethical or moral. They can provide means to support their citizens in taking care of themselves and their families, but no government can force compassion for those on the margins.

If we want others to act with a set of morals and/or to be compassionate towards others, don’t expect your government to be much help. Such expectations are simply what those who are obsessed with power and greed use to divide us so that they can gain control and use government for their own goals.

There is only one true way to help others find a moral compass or to act compassionately to those who need help. Many throughout history have shown us the way. One of the latest, Mahatma Gandhi, put it in these words: “Become the change you want to see in the world.”