There is a world of perception and a world of reality.

In the world of perception, words and images spawn existence. We start with a mental model of truth, then collect facts that fit with with that model, while rejecting those that don’t. Deductive reasoning is the dominant mode of thought: Cogito ergo sum. It is thought that creates being. Its intellectual fathers are French: Descartes, Sartres, Derrida. This is the world of identity politics.

In the world of reality, existence spawns words and images. We start with facts from our experience, and we build a model that fits those facts, and reject models that don’t fit. Inductive reasoning is the dominant mode of thought: the human mind is a tabula rasa. It is experience that leads to understanding. Its intellectual fathers are English: Bacon, Locke, Mill. This is the world constitutional politics.

Problems always seem to occur when these two worlds get out of sync. And they seem very much out of sync today. We’re in a recession with 3.3% GDP growth; Iraq is a disastrous quagmire with rates of violence comparable to many US cities; global warming is destroying the planet with lower temperatures; immigrants and off-shoring are stealing American jobs with an unemployment rate of 5.7%; abortion should be rare when there are more than 1 million each year.

Lincoln’s address was a classic because it left a perception with the reader that perfectly aligned with reality. Gettysburg was all too real, and the Gettysburg Address expressed the meaning of that reality in shockingly few words.

I continue to hope and pray that our current misalignment is just a transitory phenomenon. The genius of the American system is that our checks and balances – including the most important, elections – provide regular opportunities to resynchronize.

Still: faster, please.

L3