The Gordian Knot of Ideological Unitarianism

Imagine a world where everyone agrees, a world of ideological unitarianism. Incumbents are usually elected because there is no need for change. There are no political divides. Wall Street analysts are in unanimous consensus. One government and one religion are dominant. However, no one minds at present because all accept the religion and are equally loyal to the government. No arguments, debates, scandals, or controversies arise. Everyone watches the same channels at the same time, listens to the same radio stations at the same time, reads the same books, and visits the same websites. The status quo is readily accepted and never challenged.

Does it sound like a beautiful utopia? Well, let us look beyond the surface.

Perils of Ideological Unitarianism

When incumbents are continually elected, nobody gains experience under the wings of the veterans; imagine what occurs when the incumbents die. With the lack of political divide, there is no discussion of the issues. If someone ever began to question the accepted stances, they would be ignored and ridiculed at minimum. Remember, people with differing opinions do arise.

The market would be in stagnation because the market is driven by disagreement. When someone wants to sell stocks, they are counting on the fact that someone disagrees with the idea of selling and would buy the stock. If everyone agreed that the stock should sell, no one would be buying the stock; the stock market would stop moving. The same is true for the rest of capitalism; essentially disagreement is necessary for market forces to work.

Ideological Diversity

Evidently, differing opinions are necessary in life and do occur. Ideological diversity exists, and we need it. That does not mean we should accept all ideologies. It means considering and understanding other viewpoints. Additionally, surrounding ourselves with diverse perspectives allows ideas to be thrown around, between ideologically diverse individuals in order to come up with an idea that one person or ideologically unitarianistic group would not think of. Allow me to leave you with a story to ponder

There was once a successful sky resort town that attracted tourists and skiers. Snowfall was abundant. In fact, it was so abundant that it caused trouble. Every winter it would pile up on the power lines and power poles until the weight became unbearable, resulting in the lines snapping, consequentially plunging the town into powerlessness. As a result, the tourists and skiers would not return following years and income began to fall since the town's economy was based on the visitors.

A town meeting was held in response. They threw ideas around, but none were viable. Eventually a child spoke up, "Why don't you put honey on the lines and when the bears get the honey, the lines will shake, knocking the snow off?" Instead of ridiculing the idea because bears would be in hibernation during winter, someone jokingly entertained the idea by asking how the townsfolk would get the honey on the lines. Yet another individual answered, "a helicopter". It was then they realized they could use the wind from the helicopter blades to knock excess snow off the power lines. They could not have figured it out without the injection of the child's ideologically diverse perspective.

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