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.
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2 comments:
I agree with your points about the issues with the two party system and how it forces us to choose between two platforms – neither of which I would guess really represent the exact beliefs of many of Americans. You don’t exactly say it; however the idea of the representative democracy is to vote for someone not who necessarily 100% agree with, but who you can trust to represent you the best. So like you, I am forced to weigh my own values and beliefs to determine which issue or issues will decide who I support. If I had to put myself in broad buckets, I would describe myself as socially liberal and economically conservative, with the economic positions tending to outweigh the social ones. This places me in a position where I am often supporting a party or candidate espousing views which I find ignorant on some, and outright offensive on other topics. I do not like this. It becomes increasingly hard to defend to the point where unless something really rubs me the wrong way, I will do my best to keep my thoughts to myself -which of course is completely the opposite of what people should be doing this time of year at a minimum if not more often. Without open discussion on hard topics how can we educate others, learn ourselves and in general promote honest sharing of opinions and thoughts.
The other byproduct of the two party system which becomes most evident during Presidential election cycles are what we put our candidates through. They must go far to their own pole in order to secure the base of their party support, and then come back to the center in an effort to sway the undecided or more often undeclared voter that will decide the eventual outcome. In the past several election cycles this has escalated to a point of near ridiculousness with the personal attacks no longer limited to a few smear ads, but happening out in the general public between friends, neighbors and co-workers. The decisive nature of many of the key issues plays a role in this, as does the anonymity of the digital age where people can share their opinion without tempering it for the politeness or courtesy that we hopefully exhibit in face to face interactions.
For me, the most important issue facing the country in the long term and immediate future is our financial solvency as a nation. I look at the increasing cost and scope of social programs, the size and increased political influence of government unions, and the amazing inefficiency of many government offices and programs and I cannot reconcile how the current trends and the Democratic Party’s platform is sustainable without completely bankrupting the country. I look towards Europe as a scary vision of where we are headed if we cannot make fundamental changes in our spending on and administration of these programs. I love this country and worry for its future. For me the Republican economic platform seems like the best way to ensure its safety.
This is why I am a Republican.
I'd love to see an analysis of how the "Republican economic platform " leads to our financial solvency. I'd like to know what that "platform " is.
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