Facts regardless of the source-

I'm not a fan of George Will's philosophical perspectives nor of his conclusions.  However,  I have to give credit where credit is due.   This past week,  Will wrote a commentary on a New York Times' article about economics and our aging population.  The article apparently commented that the aging population of Americans wasn't going to be able to retire in the fashion they'd expected.  A man cited as an example was not going to be able to retire when he'd planned faced working a few years more.  His age?  59 years old.   Will, rightly, noted that American expectations to retire at relatively early ages and live in economic bliss are very new and not part of the American tradition.  Not too long ago,  the idea of a guaranteed retirement at any age with the benefit of a small stipend and health care was novel.  Retiring at 65 was only "early" in the sense that our lifespan and health expectations didn't extend far beyond that.   I applauded Will's scoffing at the implied assumptions in the article.

The next day I read a column by Nicholas Kristol in which he cited the recent Obama-Clinton debate and the readiness of advocates of each to see their side as having won.   Kristol noted that several research studies identify a tendency on the part of people confronted with the same information to find the pieces that supported their predispositions rather than to find the pieces that highlighted common ground.    The tendency toward polarized thinking is a dangerous one,  particularly when it involves denial of anything contrary.   Can there be civil dialogue or even a polity if no liberal ever reads George Will open to possible agreement or no conservative can do the same?   I doubt it.   I hear the heartbeat of the great Beast slouching toward Bethlehem in Yeats'  The Second Coming.   "Turning and turning in the widening gyre/The falcon cannot hear the falconer/Things fall apart' the centre cannot hold/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....The best lack all conviction/While the worst are full of passionate intensity."    Not original perhaps, but an idea worth coming back and revisiting.   The center must hold.