By Mark Rhoads -
The level of debate in American politics for all parties across the ideological spectrum has been corrupted dramatically in recent years by the widely accepted abandonment of reason. The second definition of "reason" in most dictionaries is "the power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic."
But politicians in both parties now think that logic does not drive the hearts and minds of most voters, emotion does. Campaigns based on emotion only, without any appeal to logic, drive the public policy debate to the lowest common denominator of ideas. In a democratic republic, we hope the opinions of all citizens will be respected. But that does not mean that all opinions are entitled to be given equal weight as informed or reasonable opinions.
How often have you heard someone say, "I am entitled to my opinion?" Of course they are entitled to their opinion.
But what some people are really saying is "I am entitled to my personal prejudice." Yes, even an irrational prejudice is covered by the First Amendment but that amendment does not demand that all other citizens must accept a prejudice as valid for everyone.
Reasonable citizens should be allowed to have reasonable differences of opinion without having their motives challenged in debate. But if people do not even understand the critical difference between an informed opinion and one that is based on emotion only, the road back to a free and humane society will be much longer and more difficult.
