There seems to be something of a “my way or the highway” malaise in our culture at the moment, spurred on by the actions of President Trump and Elon Musk as they attempt to reshape the federal government.

We have talked about our stance on this somewhat before in our previous editorial, titled “Simplicity,” but we wanted to expand the premise slightly in what could be considered a sequel.

In yesterday’s edition of The Express, the op-ed page contained a column by Cal Thomas. Much of his column lambasted Democrats for their ineffectuality and inability to learn from their mistakes, but he then transitioned to talking about the highly controversial re-evaluation of USAID: “The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which admittedly does some good work in especially poorer countries, was revealed to have been spending tax money on ludicrous projects.”

Thomas proceeded to list some expenditures which he considers foolish, and that Trump and Musk are “right to root them out.”

Fair enough.

But, that isn’t what’s happening. Political rhetoric on the subject has been tantamount to shuttering and closing the agency. AP reporting released yesterday states that the planned changes would leave “fewer than 300 staffers on the job out of what are currently 8,000 direct hires and contractors.”

Is there truly that little of merit to USAID? Thomas lists his grievances, but despite saying that it does good work, never lists its pro’s.

We endorse and encourage removing wasteful spending from the government. Taxpayers’ dollars are a valuable and critical resource and we should rest assured that what our dollars are funding are in line with our values.

The problem? We aren’t a monolith. Some may see financing phase 1 trials for an HIV vaccine in Africa as wasteful spending, but others may view defeating a debilitating disease as a noble use of their taxes — and this isn’t divided anywhere nearly on as neatly of a partisan, ideological basis as pundits like to think.

That’s just one example.

Another can be found in today’s edition, a story on page C7 entitled “Forget saving the planet. Clean energy interests sharpen a different message: Money and jobs.”

The article covers the clean energy industry’s response to Trump’s attempts to roll back clean energy initiatives and push oil, gas and mining — specifically that, much like oil, gas and mining, solar, wind and hydroelectric development also generates careers and cash.

We are admittedly sensitive to this thought. There is no particular reason that we shouldn’t be able to support both industries. We live in a capitalist society, and while that can have drawbacks with things like healthcare, it does mean that, as more conservative voices have said for years, we can let the markets sort it out.

Consider Pennsylvania’s electric market, which has options for what electric power you want to purchase. If you want the cheapest option or to reward oil and gas extraction, you can sign up for that. If you prefer to spend slightly more but know that you are supporting green energy, you can also sign up for that.

There is no right answer, and we think that the very lack of a right answer is something that many people find uncomfortable.

Simple, black-and-white thinking is comfortable. Both as individuals and also as a society, we like to think our own viewpoints are noble and our oppositions’ viewpoints are vile.

Such absolutism is very rarely the best approach, however, and we would all do well to consider the merits of different perspectives instead of dismissing them out of hand.

America is built on freedom. It’s kind of our thing, at least if you listen to us talk. If that is truly our guiding ideal, why are we restricting the options for our citizens to live their lives in accordance with their values?

The world is almost unimaginably vast, and there is space for people to hold different viewpoints to one’s own. That’s not a bad thing, and we need to stop treating it like it is.

Disagreement means there is room to learn and grow, and we think that’s beautiful.

Resting amidst the endless shades of grey is the closest to truth that we can get as mortals.

More than that? That’s the domain of our Creator, and we have troves of wisdom from every culture on Earth stating that attempting to appropriate that position is truly foolish.