Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Why I am a Democrat

Independence is seen as a virtue in our political system. Partisanship and even the mere existence of political parties are seen as, at best, necessary evils of politics and governance. People are encouraged to vote for individuals and largely ignore the D or R next to their names. By an overly circuitous route, this bias favors my party. Democrats, although outnumbering Republicans, are more heavily concentrated. If everyone voted their party all the time, the Senatorial map would look a lot like the Presidential map. Democrats would get more votes but fewer Senators because California gets the same number of Senators as Wyoming. Therefore, you often see Democrats running against their party and the party tolerates this. See Joe Manchin.

This annoys me. I will accept Senator Joe Manchin because even though he only votes the way I want to half the time, the alternative would be someone who votes that way I want one tenth of the time. What I do not accept is that political centrism (as opposed to true moderation and willingness to compromise) is an end in and of itself. Just because the Democratic platform espouses A and the Republican platform espouses B, it does not follow that the optimal answer is C.

The two major political parties in this country are now largely unified around values. I am a registered Democrat because I find my values align with the Democratic party.  Herein I offer an explanation as to why.  It may end up like a Ptolemaic astrolabe, but I'll do my best.

My primary political value is equality. My secondary political value is autonomy. These values are colored by my best reading of, for lack of a better term, the facts on the ground. Government has a role to play in promoting equality and ensuring autonomy to the greatest number of citizens possible. Conflicts occasionally arise and I do my best to reason through them.

A few illustrations.

I support gay marriage. So does the Democratic party. Gay marriage is a matter of equality. I can think of no reason why homosexuals do not deserve the same rights to marry the person of their choice as heterosexuals. Gay marriage also gives gay people autonomy over their own lives and does nothing to anyone else.

I support abortion rights. So does the Democratic party. Women deserve a choice as to when to get pregnant. They deserve autonomy over their own bodies. I cannot really answer the question of when a fetus becomes a child and I do not believe the government can either. This decision should therefore be left to the individual. There is also an equality interest here as unwanted pregnancies inherently affect women more than men.

I support aggressive environmental regulation and enforcement. So does the Democratic party. Equality and personal autonomy are dependent on certain public goods remaining public. Among these are clean air and water. Environmental degradation is a real threat. Whether via command and control or market-based regulations, direct government involvement has proven to be the only way to stop pollution. The unfettered free market cannot solve this problem. I also believe climate change to be a very serious problem, perhaps moreso than the median Democrat.

I support a comprehensive social safety net, including universal access to quality health care and vigorous anti-poverty efforts. In particular, I support Obamacare, as does the Democratic party. The goal is universal access to quality health care. Obamacare is likely the most conservative way to achieve this goal. I was not enamored of all the particulars. It is not nearly as elegant as Medicare for all would have been. However, it achieves the goal, and that is the most important thing. Equal access to basic health care is so important that it overrides the limits to personal autonomy it creates. Sometimes trade-offs are inevitable.

I support the right of workers of all types and stripes to unionize and bargain collectively. So does the Democratic party. The facts on the ground indicate that management and capital have inherent power advantages over individual workers and even labor in general. The only way for workers to achieve anything approaching equality is to band together. The enormous power employers have over employees also restricts the autonomy of employees. Not just autonomy, dignity. The modern American workplace is rife with indignities. Workers deserve someone on their side.

I am a Democrat because the Democratic party is committed to equality of opportunity. The Republican party, in my estimation, stands for autonomy above all. Power structures existing in society are either good in and of themselves, or it is simply not government's job to do anything about them.

This is why I am a Democrat.