Moral Equivalence

In noting the great political divide across the American landscape, it seems that the largest chasm between the Left and the Right boils down simply to: Moral Equivalence. For example, the Left says that the Right are hypocrites because they support the death penalty, while condemning abortion - thus equating the two issues. The Right argues that the issues are not equal; that the innocent life is not, and cannot be, equal to the guilty life. Whether you agree or disagree with the point is irrelevant to my posting - what's relevant is the drawing of equivalency between the two acts, where there truly is none.

Honest people can disagree over whether life begins at conception, or whether a murderer's life should be taken by the state. Honest people should be able to disagree, shake hands, and have a beer together. I know - I'm dreaming.

There are, literally, thousands of examples of this, and as a person on the Right I know firsthand how distasteful it is to be 'lumped in' and equated with perpetrators of actual evil. "BusHitler" is certainly a famous moniker among the moral equivalence crowd, as though imprisoning enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay is the moral equivalent of Auschwitz and Treblinka. How can anyone read that sentence and nod in agreement? Well, some do - many right here on LI - and I believe that's the great divide between us.

Ask someone on the Left for an example of 'evil' and you'll get, in varying tones, answers like:
"Bush!"
"Conservatives."
"Low taxes on the rich!"
"How we're destroying Mother Earth!"

I think that Moral Equivalence represents the largest divide between the two philosophical/ideological 'sides', Left and Right, in America.