Case in point right here. Not only have I been willing to question many of the left’s policies and criticize their effectiveness, I’ve agreed that even on things they’re technically right about right now, such as the Epstein Files, federal and executive overreach, anti-foreign interventionism are mostly pandering. There are politicians I wouldn’t vote for in the party and policies I’d vote for in other candidates regardless of their team colors.
Believe it or not, issues themselves needn’t be partisan. In just 5 years, all vaccines became a left/right issue despite the real issue being isolated (but numerous, this isn’t meant to downplay) standard issue cases of overly broad government overreach. There is a tangible difference between a government saying to take a vaccine that was very notably (and impressively, thanks is no small part to Trump!) created in a massive rush in real-time and with no real way to account for long-term effects besides scientists saying “trust us, bro” and a set of vaccines that we essentially all have lived with our entire lives without ever needing to even think about it and have shown time and time again to rid entire populations of the disease. There are really important individual liberty issues to grapple with in both cases, but these were considered niche issues prior to Covid and without any good, new science to contradict the efficacy and safety of routine vaccinations, the Republican Party has increasingly made vaccine skepticism a part of their platform. Imagine telling 2016 America that Jenny McCarthy is just early to a right-wing political movement. So now instead of talking about if we need to change the legal process that allowed very real lawmakers to make very real laws that infringed upon people’s very real rights, we are watching as we bring Measles back due to very questionable science. Why is this now a partisan issue? What could political affiliation possibly have to do with whether or not you personally think a vaccine you have lived your whole life with in a country overwhelmingly full of people who have lived their whole lives with them is now suspicious? The politicization and polarization of these traditionally apolitical aspects of society has eroded the way we talk to each other about our views.
This is my problem with this stupid attitude that I must be hiding or afraid to debate my beliefs. I’ve done so, a lot. I’ve argued about crime and gender-affirming care and race and corruption and Islam and immigration and any other topic you can name. The posts aren’t hard to find. My arguments aren’t going to change just because you found a new news article headline or tweet that made you feel angry about that topic today or because you, Sturg and Tap are having a circlejerk about how the leftists know they’re insane and complicit. It’s a dreadfully boring and repetitive routine, and I’m much happier to find more productive ways to reflect on my views on an issue. That’s why I still enjoy discussing topics where I disagree with Jaw, Chop, Aces, Nsacpi and some others. They actually still argue the issues themselves and do not simply resort to invoking the “mindless leftist” response. My views are my views. They are no doubt influenced by what I’ve been exposed to and various algorithms certainly influence the thing I choose to talk about that day. But I do question myself and I don’t look to the Democratic Party to tell me what I should believe.
