Why process matters

     Every time I turn on the news I see a story about negative attack ads  and how this is possibly the most negative election ever.  Worse than that though, Every time I turn on the news I see a story that has a biased perspective, a story that sides with one side of current political discourse, and worse still, these stories actively disparage the opposing side.  these attack ads, even the political press in this  country tend to tear down the 'other side' rather than simply report news. I hear a lot of people ask why it is that the discourse in this country has fallen to such a level. 
     It is not just America either.  Look for example at the European Union.  The EU was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize this week.  Upon hearing of this, news agencies all over the world responded with snark.  While it is true that the EU is having some trouble because limitations in its governing structure are creating problems and making it difficult to adapt to a rapidly changing world, but the same can be said for any government.  Keep in mind that the EU is only 60 or so years old. 

     The European Union is important and significant because it represents a victory.  Before I explain, let me clarify.  The EU encompasses an entire region of the world.  Nearly an entire hemisphere.  I think when we talk of the European union we tend to think of it as mainly a few large countries working together rather than a massive conglomerate of nearly every European, and eastern European country both large and small, united together under a common currency and governance structure.   Now also realize that the area of the world covered by the EU has known near constant war for all of recorded history.  Yes, in one part of the EU, or another, people have been killing one another for all of time.  That is of course, until the formation of the European Union. 
     The EU has largely ended war and human misery in a part of the world that had been at war since humans had been able to keep track of such things.  The Nobel Committee recognizes this, and sadly it seems that we do not.  Why is this?  We seem to have a distaste for all things policy and procedure in government.  It seems we would rather disparage, tear down, belittle and ridicule the intricacies of government rather than celebrate successes.   I think we do this because we need conflict.  Conflict has been part of human society since we have been able to form societies.  There are different tribes with different cultures and different religions with different definitions of what 'good is' all competing for limited land and resources.  Conflict is inevitable and naturally constant. 
     Democracy, policy, and procedure, rules.  These are things that we have developed to deal with these conflicts, they are tools we have developed  to resolve our differences without killing each other.   Yes, the process is slow, awkward arduous, complicated, bulky and difficult.  When viewed through the lense of history though the result is sublime and beautiful.  So we  but what is the alternative?  I think the answer is war.  I don't think that it is too much of a stretch to say that either we have people killing each other in streets or we have attack ads.  Conflict is a part of our lives.  So much a part of our lives that we have developed a kind of distaste for how we resolve conflicts in a nonviolent manner. 

Conflict is such a part of us not because humans, in our hearts, are primitives, but because we are predators. Though we have learned to grow our food instead of kill it, we still have predatory instincts, and these instincts express themselves through conflict. As we have evolved and developed a more civilized discourse, so to has our conflict evolved. We have moved from warring tribes, to warring nations, to peaceful nations. Our conflicts has evolved from bloody combat to political vitriol and expresses itself in political adds, social conversation and even internet discussions.

While conflict is inevitable and maybe even necessary we must be careful not to revel in it. At the center of our modern, civilized 'political pundit' age conflict lies a distaste for the procedural, slow-motion bloodless method conflict resolution that we call modern government. Take a look at Congressman Ryans comments on Syria from the VP debate. It was clear that he wanted boots on the ground over sanctions. A lot of people feel the same way on nearly any conflict. blood over talk. We can;t give in to this feeling. Yes, we must tolerate conflict, it is a need we have, but we must defer to the procedural. We must allow for the slow, lumbering resolutions of democracy because they are better than violence and bloodshed. We must also, always remember that there is no bubble that exists in which all conflicts are resolved without differences, and there is no universe that exists in which there are no differences.

We are all different, we all think different and we will all always want different solutions to our shared problems. This will never change, but what we must always do is resort to nonviolent ways to resolve our conflicts, no matter how badly we want to kill the other guy, and feeling that way is natural, we must talk it out. And was we grow, we must do what the European Union has done, we must bring others to our table, We must seek out those nations and peoples among us who still resolve their conflicts with blood and violence and show them that there is a better way. Yes it is slower, and yes it is sometimes awkward, and yes sometimes after months of talk no one gets what they want but if no one dies and suffers, it is still better. This is the burden of civilization, we must lead others to be civilized. If all life is sacred than efforts to preserve life must be undertaken.