SUSAN DUNN
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United States and England (along with her offspring, Australia and
Canada), withstood all the storms of the twentieth century-two world
wars, fascism, Stalinism, a catastrophic economic depression. While the
rest of the world reeled, while nation after nation fell and crumbled, those
governments remained stable and intact, persevering in their careful,
orderly ways. The key to their stability may well lie in their ability to tol–
erate, defang, and absorb conflict-political conflict, social conflict,
external foreign aggression.
Lessons for today? If we see citizens uninvolved in the national polit–
ical debate and in political parties, we may question how compelling and
significant the agendas of those parties are. When our President and other
national leaders shun resolute ideological stands and avoid the critical
issues facing our society (such as the growing disparity of income
between rich and poor) for the sake of concord, centrism, and a well–
meaning but trivial domestic political agenda (seat-belts for infants,
teen-age smoking, school uniforms, etc., etc.), they not only diminish
themselves, they downgrade the importance of courageous political and
moral leadership. They have misconstrued the very essence of democrat–
ic politics. For the essence of politics is conflict.
