The American people are split up about fifty-fifty on just about every core issue, be it gun control, abortion, homosexual marriage, affirmative action etc. etc. This is evidenced by the fact that the elections for many political offices have been sooooo close. People have been winning by mere percentage points.
Why is this so?? Are tens of millions of Americans flat out stupid?? Dead wrong? [Before answering, I will assure you that many many people are really stupid. Albert Einstein famously said that two things are infinite - The universe and human stupidity. And that he is not sure about the universe].
Here is a BIIIIG lesson!!! Both sides are right [or left:-)] on all of the issues. Each side has convincing arguments for their position. [That is close to one meaning of "אלו ואלו דברי אלקים חיים"]. Every position has some level of validity. Take abortion rights, for example. From the perspective of the Torah, it is absolutely forbidden. For a non-Jew, it is a worse sin than for a Jew. So where is the validity? The validity is the argument that nobody should be allowed to tell a woman what to do with her body. It would be a dangerous world if this were the case. Human [female] freedom would be jeopardized. So they have a point! The problem is that her rights to choose what she does with her body don't give her the right to exterminate a living being [i.e. her fetus - barring extenuating circumstances]. כה אמר השם.
Gun control. The Left is correct - guns DO kill. But the Right is also right - guns don't kill. People kill. Should we ban people?? [See the book "Bullet In From Sinai - the Moral Case For Gun Rights"].
Homosexual marriage? People should have the right to legally marry the person whom they love. G-d just told us that this only applies to men with women. Otherwise - why not?
So remember - Next time you are arguing with your spouse or friend or chavrusa, make sure to try to show the other person the validity of his argument - before proving [if you must] that your arguments for your position carry more weight.
ואידך פירושא זיל גמור.
