I get it, getting into political discussions can be a tedious endeavor these days. But you learn a lot about people when you have these discussions. One of the most interesting dichotomies I’ve often seen between the political left and right is their adherence or abhorrence to labels. I’ve seen this talked about before but it is still interesting to me when people on the left get extremely offended when they are called leftists or liberals, or get lumped in with other democrats. Where as people on the right don’t really care what they are called as long as you aren’t calling them alt-right racists or bigots, which is, rightfully, pretty offensive considering we are not, in fact, racists or bigots.
I think the subconscious reasoning for this is the ability to run from failed policy after the fact. One of the most common phrases in our country today is “Well, I don’t support [insert policy that the candidate they voted for enacted or plans to enact.]” Both sides do this, but the left tends to do this in pretty much every conversation you try to have.
This isn’t how a vote works. When you vote for a candidate or a party, you are casting your support for everything that party stands for. You vote for a political ideology, you vote for certain policy. And after you cast that vote, you should have a backbone and take responsibility for the outcomes of that vote. If the policies put in place by the elected official you voted for fail spectacularly, take some responsibility and reconsider what you voted for. If they succeed then be proud of the success and understand why those policies worked.
People have asked me repeatedly, “How could you vote for Donald Trump?” Generally, my response is that I didn’t, I voted for his policies. The personal character of a candidate is pretty low on the reasons to vote or not vote for that candidate. It’s not completely thrown out, but it will rarely sway my opinion of a candidate. I care so much more about whether the policies for which the candidate advocates will uphold the freedom and constitution of America and its citizens.
That doesn’t mean you have to agree with every single policy a candidate enacts, but you also can’t say you don’t support it. I don’t like the way Trump used tariffs in the trade war with China. Tariffs often hurt consumers here in America just as much as they hurt the country being tariffed. As the tariffs rise so do the prices on the goods at the sale point. But in the end, I do support the tariffs, because I support Donald Trump. I voted for him therefore I voted for tariffs. I can’t run away from my vote when it doesn’t suit me. When a policy is enacted by someone I voted for, I cant say “well, I didn’t vote for that.” Because I did. What happens as a result of my vote is a result of my vote. That’s part of being knowledgable about policy. I know that tariffs, in the grand scheme of things, are small things that aren’t a main aspect of the platform that I voted for.
Which brings us to another aspect of our society that has been so deeply degraded. I’ve heard it said a few times that voting is your civic duty. Well, that’s only half true. You have a greater duty, if you are going to vote, to be informed. If you talk all the time about how much you hate politics and you avoid any and all talk about it, then your civic duty is more to not vote than it is to vote. This “#vote” culture we’ve started isn’t overly helpful if you don’t tell people to be informed.
Thomas Jefferson stated in a letter to Richard Price in January 1789 “…whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that, whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them right.” Later in the letter, Jefferson mentions that after being free of the tyranny of England, political discussion was the main discourse for everyone in the country. Because there was so much suppression of political thought under England, the freedom after the American Revolution had everyone discussing politics constantly, leading to a very well informed and politically knowledgeable society. (Side note: reading around the famous parts of things is usually very insightful)
If you don’t spend time studying politics and policy, then you have no basis for your vote, then it is your responsibility to not vote. Discussion and debate are part of the founding of our country and if you run from it, or get it kicked off social media, then you aren’t allowing yourself to become informed. It takes more than reading a candidates website. You have to take time to study policy, the outcomes of similar previous policy, how the policy aligns with the constitution. Do the math on all the policy proposals together and see what the country would look like. Look at the history of ideologies and what they have brought into the world. If you don’t know these things then you don’t know what you are voting for.
When your party calls all cops racist, then take responsibility when members of the party go out and attack police officers, because you voted for it. When your entire party is adopting new aspects of socialism every day, take the time to understand what that means, because you’re voting for it. When your party spends hours committing historical malpractice calling Trump and his supporters Nazis, take some responsibility when members of the party attack Trump supporters in the streets. Because you voted for it, even if you don’t like it.
Integrity is one of the most lacking qualities in today’s political realm. You see politicians flipping on policy almost daily. If we don’t have the integrity to stand up for what we vote for, how can we expect integrity from those for whom we voted. Take responsibility for the actions of your party, of those you support. If we can’t be honest about what we are voting for, then we can’t have any political discussion at all. For the sake of our country, take responsibility for your vote, if you can’t then you aren’t voting for the right thing. If we can’t do this, I fear we may be entering a time where we can’t be relied on to set things right, whenever things get so far wrong.
