Formal political ideologies other than pragmatism have little use in my view. The old idiom "divide and conquer could not ring truer than in the USA at this time. Divide and be conquered or unite and win. I say unite and win. This is why.
Political parties have stood for varying things over time. I can't say anyone should have an allegiance to a political party per se because in 1906 I'd have certainly supported Teddy Roosevelt...a true progressive and he was a Republican. But conservatives wrangled control of that party and actually caused Roosevelt to leave, taking the progressive element with him as he founded the short lived "progressive party". Lincoln of course believed in a strong federal government and found slavery morally intolerable. Opposite positions of today's GOP. But since FDR's time the Democratic Party has been the home of progress and social justice. It's not difficult to explain why I oppose the conservatives. I am largely pragmatic, and I believe in democracy, I am convinced that the only alternative to having a functional democracy is one sort of totalitarianism or another. I believe most humans are decent folks, that we desire nothing more than to live and let live.
I am sometimes asked by friends who identify themselves as conservative why I oppose their politics.
My reply is twofold:
One is that conservatives have never been on the correct side of any political issue...they were wrong on slavery (yes...at that time the Republican Party was the most progressive one.)
They were wrong on women voting, they were wrong on opposing social security, wrong on opposing school integration, wrong on civil rights in the 60s, wrong on women's rights, wrong on equal rights for LGBT folks. (What were they ever right about? . . . . . . [crickets].)
Two is that I am forced into opposition...why?
Well look, if you attack my friends for their sex, or their religious views being different than yours , or the color of their skin or who they love, then you force me to take a stand against you.
When you attempt to force your religion on me, or onto my friends,
or upon others against their will -- and that's precisely what you're doing when you try to pass laws governing reproduction and women's bodies or policing who can use what bathroom or who can be married in the eyes of the state.
Do not waste my time pretending otherwise -- then you force me to oppose you.
When you attempt to force your religion into my life by inserting it in public policy even though you, yourself contemptuously refuse to adhere to it's main tenets- to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, heal the sick, do unto others, and not judge others.
I am forced to stand against you.
When you attempt to force ridiculous beliefs into my schools, replacing disingenuous quackery for science... then I must oppose you. I have no choice.
When you turn dogs loose on peaceful protestors, you force me to oppose you.
When you tell me 30,000 Americans dead from gun violence every year is the price we must pay for freedom, and you set about arming every nutter, lunatic, and raging hater in the country, then you force me to oppose you.
When you tell me I must bear the risk for your irresponsible investment schemes yet you alone can profit from them, then you force me to oppose you.
When you tell me we must go to war yet again for your ideology,
for your skewed idea of freedom,
for your fear,
for your hate,
or to benefit your corporate bottom line.
I am forced to oppose you.
When you demand people die in yet another undefinable vague, unending conflict that make things worse and whose only winners are defense contractors and arms dealers,
then you force me to oppose you.
When you tell someone they must obediently stand and cheer for a flag or song without question or criticism because "freedom"...you force me to oppose you.
When you say we must march on Washington and burn it to the ground, when you demand we drag the president from office and hang him from the nearest lamppost because of some idiotic absurd and ridiculous conspiracy theory you've read on some hate blogger's site, you force me to oppose you.
When you demand Wall Street should be free of regulation, free to risk the economic security of every single person on this planet without protest or oversight, you force me to oppose you.
When you tell me corporations are people, I am forced to oppose you.
When you tell me we can just continue to consume resources
and belch pollutants at an ever increasing pace
without regard for the environment that we all must live in,
then you force me to oppose you.
When you disenfranchise minorities through unjust laws or by gerrymandering or through trickery, then you force me to oppose you.
When you tell me we must spend trillions more, on aircraft carriers and stealth bombers and tanks while the nation's infrastructure crumbles around us, while Americans go hungry and without medical care, when we can't afford colleges, a space program or the National Endowment for the Arts,
then I must oppose you.
When you insist on buying those weapons anyway and then blame the resulting debt on those who resisted the idea from the start, then you force me to take a side against you.
When you tell me prisons should be run for profit, you force me to oppose you.
When you tell me medicines should be used for outrageous profiteering,
you force me to oppose you.
When you tell me that we must make America great again
by retreating into an armed camp surrounded by minefields
and barbed wire as we peer fearfully out at the world over the barrel of a gun,
then you force me to oppose you.
Yes, I am your political enemy then.
But you must understand that you FORCED me to oppose you.
YOU forced me to choose whatever vehicle is best suited to beat you
in the race to control power.
YOU demanded that I take this ride.
Not because I seek undue power, but because you do.
So yes, I am forced into being a "partisan"...it's not a choice, but a matter of defense.
I will treat you personally with the degree of dignity I know every human being is entitled to,
but know that some ideology is simply poison.
And I for one will not knowingly drink that poison.
I will warn as many who will listen, not to drink it.
If you think I should not oppose your ideology, then I'm afraid you should have offered options other than poison.
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