Fair Warning

Politics and politicians have been so extreme in recent years and especially in recent weeks that it's seemed this is all moving fast to some extreme moment.  That moment could be soon, as Washington has only about two weeks to resolve the debt limit crisis before it takes on a horrible life of its own.

As action that may be swift and strange begins after the holiday in perhaps the decisive act in this drama, it's worth stepping back to get in focus who we are.

It's been the conventional wisdom that as a species we are programmed to be selfish to the extreme, always aggressive and destructive, and ready to react to fear with unbridled and irrational violence.  But for all the considerable evidence that history holds, human societies and human beings--as well as animals and animal societies--have another side.

This was noted in one way in yesterday's New York Times--and intentionally timed to our current situation and debate.  Thirst for Fairness May Have Helped Us Survive  is the headline for the Natalie Angier piece, which offers examples from several cultures to make the point that "Darwinian-minded analysts argue that Homo sapiens have an innate distaste for hierarchical extremes, the legacy of our long nomadic prehistory as tightly knit bands living by veldt-ready team-building rules: the belief in fairness and reciprocity, a capacity for empathy and impulse control, and a willingness to work cooperatively..."

In particular humans have a tendency, reflected in various societies, of a balance in which some may have more than others, but nobody has way more than others.  This is a general rule that contemporary America breaks, with its multimillionaire CEOs at a time of decline for most and hardship for many. It is this sort of American exceptionalism  that GOPers are pushing with such fervor.  And it is the failure to push back on Wall Street excesses, Frank Rich maintains, that has weakened President Obama politically.

Other research supports the notion that innate tendencies towards helpfulness, kindness, fairness and sharing have survival value, for individuals and societies--or even species.  This crisis requires both a sense of reality (of causes that have effects, regardless of which party says so) and a sense of empathy for those who will be most hurt by yet another economic blow.  We don't have to invent these capacities, or virtues.  We need to value them, and bring them to bear.  Right now.