The ‘them’ versus ‘us’ of partisan politics

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Partisan politics, fanatics, and self-loathing

partisan politics

A family friend stopped by my office last week.  In his hand was a yard sign advertising that his wife is running for city council.  My heart sank.

“Here, you need one of these?” he asked extending the sign to me, but then stopped himself.  “Oh,” he said.  “Your a Democrat.”  Mike and his wife are Republicans.

I corrected him in a conciliatory tone, blushing with embarrassment at the situation. “We are hardcore Democrats, Mike.  It’s nothing personal.”  He took it personally, and left without saying good-bye.

That evening, I fell into a malaise of self-loathing.  I had inadvertently fallen into the the either/or trap that I pride myself for generally avoiding.

I truly hate politics–I really do.  I hate  politics for the same reason I hate all institutions, and constructs of ideology that pit people against people in the ugliest of ways.  I hate the media and politicians that cynically perpetuate political tribalism for their own gain, and to the detriment of the rest who are duped by its nonsense.  The same goes for religion.  It cleaves us in parts, appealing to our basest instincts, and makes us crazy.  If we don’t learn to live together, with our collective best interest at heart, everyone loses.

A few years back at the beginning of the football season a man wearing a Texas Longhorns t-shirt got into an altercation with a man wearing an Oklahoma Sooners t-shirt in a sports bar in Oklahoma City.  Words were exchanged, and the Sooners fan followed the Longhorns fan out of the bar, wrestled the Longhorns fan to the ground in the parking lot and ripped the Longhorns fan’s testicles off.  As things should have it, the man with the other’s testicles in his hand was reported to be a preacher, and the preacher was charged with assault and battery.

Partisan politics is like being a sports fan for some, rooting for their team no matter, and always looking forward to the ultimate demise and castration of the other team in a cataclysmic struggle to utterly defeat the opposition once and forever.

When leftist pundits speak of the scourge of Republicans and how stupid they are, they are talking about my family and a lot of people I know, and like.  When the blow holes on the right talk noxious tripe about hunting liberals and the such, they’re talking about me, my family and a lot of people I know, and like.

In a more ideal and evolved world there wont be Republicans and Democrats–just people whose prerogative it is to balance the rights of individuals with the welfare of the collective as perfectly as possible.

What this world needs to save it from itself is not more conservatives or liberals, but for everyone to admit one simple truth–we’re all crazy.  Partisan politics is a reflection of who we are.  Partisan politics is hopelessly crazy and inept at achieving progress, like us.

Politics is not a game of ‘them’ versus ‘us’.  There is only ‘us’.

In an effort to redeem myself in my own eyes, I looked up Mike’s wife to see what kind of candidate she is, and if she would be someone I would consider voting for in the general election.  Smart, involved, credentialed, caring and someone my age is what her website shows.  No where does it mention that she is a Republican.

I decided that if she wins the primary, I will give Mike a call to bring me one of her signs to stick in the ground in my front yard, and root for the other team for the first time in my life–if we are still on speaking terms.

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Collin Hinds

Senior Writer and editor.
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Robert Goldberg
11 years ago

My friend Jeff sent me this article. Here is my response to him, and to you.

Good article, but not everyone currently involved in politics is into “sports” politics for its own sake. There are deeper considerations. Believe it or not, politics is everything I loathe. Of course, I don’t do sports either. I prefer cooperation to confrontation, union to division. In real life, I’m pretty civil about most things. I don’t enjoy political discussions. I just see, in that context, a lot of evil being perpetrated against common people like me, and I call it. I’d do the same if it were entertainment (and you should hear me on the subject of Springer or Povich), or finance (which it can be) or anything else. I’ve managed to stay away from politics most of my life; it had little to do with me. But over the past couple of administrations, it’s spread its ugly influence into more and more lives. Jeff, for me, there IS no team to rah rah for. One team is unreliable and ineffectual. The other is aligned with a mission I consider very, very dark. I speak out against both, but mostly against the latter. I take no pleasure in doing it, and wish for the day when the middle class wasn’t being threatened, people weren’t being manipulated through lies and cynical distortions, most people weren’t losing their homes, the wealthy paid their fair share, and the poor were at least minimally cared for. While I don’t do religion, these are Christian values, mostly by people who swear by that faith and demonstrate the opposite. Sorry to get verbose on you. Yes, there are people who are recreationally political. There are also people with deep, legitimate concerns, not about where the country may or may not be going, but where it is. How much money Shaq makes means nothing to me. He gets not a dime of it from me, but I wish him well. How the banks and corporations are buying government affects us all, including you whether you accept that or not. It’s no fun to be so nervous about what we have become, and it’s certainly no sport. Dismissing the truth doesn’t negate the truth.

Reply to  Robert Goldberg
11 years ago

I don’t do sports but I do politics, reluctantly. I definitely don’t do religion, but I do science, happily. I also do free speech. We speak freely over here and welcome those that do. Thanks for your thoughts Robert.

Bethany
12 years ago

Very well said. I especially appreciate the reminder that when we put down people who’s opinion are different, we are talking about people we know and love.

lazersedge
12 years ago

Collin it would really be nice if people would simply drop the labels and discuss differing ideas but unfortunately only thinking people can do that which leaves out the vast majority of the voting populace. Humans must have something to be for or against simply for definition sake if nothing else. It is like having the word “good”, which most people want to be called. It is useless unless we have the word “bad” which is its antithesis. There must be bad people so we can be good people. We define right so others are wrong and if they are wrong they are bad.

12 years ago

I sympathize Collin, I could relate to you a similar experience, involving co-workers of my wife, plus her brother is a rabid conservative. Friends through family or career choice sometimes don’t gel with a fulfilling social life.

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