Party Loyalty in the Modern Age; At What Cost Our Ideals?

The Republican Party of my youth (1950’s) is gone.  The Democratic Party with which I identified in my formative years, no longer exists.  Neither party today has what could be described as a preponderance of honest, hard-working individuals with a better America as its goal.  Political morality is now an oxymoron.  Even when either party expresses what sounds like a meaningful plank for its platform, they don’t back those ideals with deeds.  Politicians on both sides of the aisle have developed the art of doublespeak, which combines the Orwellian concepts of doublethink and newspeak.

“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”

― George Orwell, 1984 ―

I consider myself to be a political agnostic.  Living in the State of Florida means I am forced to join either the Democratic or the Republican parties if I want to have a choice when I vote.  Registering as an independent vacates much of my ability to have an influence on our political structure.  I registered many years ago as a Democrat because that’s what my parents had done.  That decision wasn’t absolute as both of my parents voted for Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican.  I too have jumped ship and voted for Republicans on occasions when I thought they were the better candidate.  I find that I am more traditionally aligned with Democratic principles than with Republican ideology, but I am open in my opinion on many fronts.  Many Republicans have expressed ideas that I hold true and likewise Democrats have expressed opinions that differ from my own.

"It was a bright cold day in April, and all the clocks were striking thirteen."

 -George Orwell, 1984-

I have many learned friends who are Republicans.  I want to understand their positions, especially today.  It is easy to comprehend the political motivations of a farmer who is very dependent on the future of soybean, or corn production.  It is likewise simple to understand why an unemployed blue-collar worker might grasp at some hope of new jobs or a rebirth of manufacturing or mining endeavors in their communities.  Those motivations are simple.  Most of my friends however, are financially comfortable and better educated than much of the Middle America I see blindly supporting our president at his rallies.  I would like to better understand my Republican friends and have some dialogue that makes their positions clear.  I respect their opinions as much as I do the opinions of my Democratic friends.  I will however, challenge either who accept contradictory positions within their philosophies.

“No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?” 

-George Orwell, Animal Farm- 

Politicians today toss around such feel-good terms as “Restoring the American Dream,” “Government Reform,” “Rebirth of Constitutional Government,” and “America Resurgent,” without so much as a clue as to what, why, and how these things will be brought to fruition.  They sound warm and fuzzy and you can find supportive bullet points ad nauseam within their online publications, but what does it all mean.  To quote Macbeth, “..it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

We are a long way from the idealism of Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart) from “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”  We seem to be closer to the dystopian reality of “1984,” thirty-four years late.  For any of us to blindly follow our respective parties is pure folly.  Each politician needs to be separately challenged on his or her own merits and not judged by the ideals expressed in some parroted phrasing of party ideology.  If party loyalists universally support someone because of some narrow personal objective, and ignore all other acts of greed, corruption, moral turpitude, and malfeasance, such support is grossly misguided.

"I see what is right and approve, but I do what is wrong." 

-Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange-

If you are pro-life and abhor abortion, fine.  Fight for your cause.  Just don’t use that cause myopically while abandoning all of the other ideals you hold dear.  Be consistent in your beliefs; thoroughly understand your position as it relates to other legislative and social topics.  I’m sure you can understand others questioning your pro-life stance if you support those who would murder doctors who might work in a women’s clinic.  People might also question your beliefs if they are based on religious ideology and you choose to ignore many of the other teachings of that religion.  Where do you stand on the death penalty, sex education in schools, birth control, and similar topics?  This article is not specifically about any of these items but it is about consistency when it is time to support a position or candidate.  You can’t in good conscience, fully support an individual or party who holds to your singular belief, but regularly violates other areas of that same conscience.

We can all agree that something like fair trade with our trading partners is a laudable objective, but we might still disagree on how we achieve that objective.  That’s where frank discussion and compromise are tools, which may be used to find a way forward.  The best among us should analyze the possibilities, develop a strategy, and bring forth a plan to resolve the problem.  In a representative democracy, our leaders should work for their constituencies and the country as a whole.  They should not work for their own financial or political gain.

Our elected leaders should be well educated and of sound mind.  I follow a laissez faire attitude when it comes to the personal lives of any politician.  Your legal personal choices and lifestyle won’t enter into my decisions of support or lack thereof.  Our leaders should not however, have outside financial interests that could affect their unbiased decisions.  Before a politician takes any elected job, they should be forced to fully disclose all financial ties and obligations.  If a politician has taken any monies from an industry or business, they should be forced to recuse themselves from any decisions that could benefit that entity. 

The financial disclosures of all elected officials should be in the public domain and regularly reviewed.  You shouldn’t be able to come to office with a net worth of ten million dollars, have a historic annual investment or business income of one million dollars, earn a congressional salary of $174,000 each year for four years, and end your first term with fifty million dollars in the bank.  Both parties should fully support comprehensive mandatory financial disclosures of all elected officials and their immediate family members.

Border Collies tending their flock

As a member of either of our two political parties, you should regularly challenge your leaders as to their adherence to those ideals you hold in high regard.  You should not accept aberrant behavior in your politicians to attain some singular benefit.  Be the Border Collie that guides the herd, not one of the sheep that merely runs in all directions with the rest of your wooly partners in life.

Be the Border Collie