I don't really have a good title, but I think you all should read this.

Let's talk politics, my friends. I want to talk political climate, the accepted political "spectrum", the actual political "spectrum", partisanship, and the incredibly simplistic way that our society deals with it all. I want to talk about a country divided, with arugula-eatin'-namby-pamby-fag-lovin'-baby-killin' blue states on the coasts and inbred-racist-gun-totin'-gay-hatin'-Jesus-lovin' red states in the heartland.

We live in quite the country at quite the time. I'm going to refrain from writing an entire post about how our country has changed since September 11th, 2001, and just trust that you all understand that it has (although I could write such a post, but sometimes I wonder if it all just has to do with the fact that September 2001 was also the beginning of my high school career, and thus probably the dawn of my awareness of the world outside small-town Maine).

For whatever reason (and there are plenty of theories), our country has turned into a relentlessly partisan place. On any issue that enters the consciousness of the populous (political, fiscal, moral, cultural) the solution is broken down into black and white, right and wrong. That, in and of itself, is a terribly dangerous existence. But what's worse, our perception of the right and wrong solution/response/action for a specified issue entirely depends on our color of choice - red or blue. And even worse than that, the people around us that we (knowingly or unknowingly) interact with automatically color us on a specific issue based on what they know about our beliefs on entirely disparate subjects. Even more catastrophically worse, we judge each other's value and worth as people by looking through the previously mentioned judgmental lenses that I've already described. If what I've said hasn't confused you, this should horrify you. All kidding aside, your value as a human being or contributing member to our society should not be based on your beliefs on issues of fiscal, political, cultural, or moral importance.

How can you possibly deduce someone's opinion about the use of war in foreign policy based on their previously stated belief about whether or not a fetus is a living human? How can you possibly claim to know someone's belief about border security based on their sexual orientation, or known support for gay marriage? Is it logical to leverage a person's belief about government spending to determine their belief about the legality of marijuana, or their thoughts on teaching creationism in public schools? These are all disparate topics - belief in one thing does not lead to belief in an entirely unrelated thing.

Let me explain further. Each of the issues that I've discussed above fall into different categories. Some are moral/cultural/religious (creationism, gay marriage), others regard policy (marijuana, immigration), still others relate to fiscal matters (taxation) or foreign policy (war on terror, immigration). As you can imagine, some issues fall into more than one category. All of these categories have an associated spectrum of belief. Broken down most simply, we can say there's an authoritarian-libertarian spectrum, and a liberal-conservative spectrum. But if we just stop there, that is really where the problem starts.

We must break it down further!

There's a fiscal spectrum, that ranges between spendy and thrifty. There's a moral/cultural/religious spectrum that ranges between liberal and conservative. There's a foreign policy spectrum that ranges from idealism to neo-conservatism. Of course, not all of these spectra can be completely independent. People leaning towards the authoritarian side of said spectrum will likely range toward to the liberal side of the fiscal spectrum - that's just the classic example of having a big government and needing a way to pay for it. But that's not the problem here. The problem is that we/media/society/political parties have taken all of these spectra and tied them together, putting liberal/blue/Democrat at one side, and red/conservative/Republican at the other. If we say there are four "spectra" (we're still simplifying here, admittedly, but anyway - authority, fiscal, moral, foreign policy), then there are EIGHT possible combinations of beliefs if we stick with a black and white approach to this (I've already explained why a black and white approach is a bad idea). That means we're dumbing down EIGHT possibilities to TWO. Can you honestly sit there and say that RED or BLUE perfectly sums up your beliefs?

Without taking time for justification, and putting myself at the risk of doing exactly what I'm saying is so bad, I'm going assume that we're all fairly liberally-minded individuals along most of the spectra I've mentioned. So, many of us listen to some of the unnamed conservative commentators on the radio or on TV and get so angry about the blanket statements they make about "liberals" or Democrats. But, we've all done the exact same thing before. Educated people, members of an accepting, open generation like ourselves, have bought into this and deal with these things in the exact same way. My roommates are all fairly left-leaning and aware individuals (again, putting myself at risk of sounding hypocritical), and I have heard them all make comments or uninformed judgments about "Republicans". Case in point (and remember this was said seriously): "Oh my god, I think my co-worker is a Republican. I don't know if I can still be friends with him."

These last few paragraphs have been an arduously long-winded attempt at saying that this all goes in every direction. People who "hated" George W. Bush and expressed it as such are just as guilty as those who "hate" Barack Obama, because it's not what we believe but how we're expressing it and synthesizing it that is the problem. Our country is at a critical juncture - it's as divided and ruthless a political culture as it's ever been (although I don't profess to speak for years I didn't experience, I just get that feeling.) An opinion on one belief does not connote an opinion on another (even if party affiliation may say otherwise). If we all, as a people, continue to judge our fellow citizens based on their party affiliation or opinion on a specific matter, our country will continue to be a divided place. A nation founded on free-thinking where difference of opinion is expressed with resentment rather than respect won't go anywhere - we'll just continue to spin our wheels and embarrass ourselves.


(Disclaimer: I tried not to stream-of-consciousness this post, but it likely seems as though I did.)

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