Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Who not to vote for

If your elected representative treats the opposing side on an issue as the enemy, maybe even somehow less than a responsible and patriotic American, don’t vote for them in the next election. If the person taking this approach is running for office, don’t vote for them in the first place. It doesn’t matter what the issue is. First of all, an elected representative is supposed to represent all of their constituents. Since there is no issue on which an elected representatives has only constituents that agree with them, then they shouldn’t be casting the other side as the enemy. The other side consists of folks they are supposed to be representing, and to whom they owe, at least, a logical and polite explanation for their decisions. Second, the name calling and generalized nastiness doesn’t pave the way to cooperation or compromise, both of which are usually necessary if one wants to actually solve a problem. We all should actually want to solve problems. Third, this treatment of someone on the other side of an issue is only even half way understandable if you expect to disagree with that person on every single issue. If that is the expectation, then something has gone terribly wrong. No one should agree on every issue. People have different combinations of experiences and interests. A Muslim American born in India might be expected to have a stance very different from what we think of as the typical Republican position on terrorism, but a very similar one on homosexuality or abortion. Of course all Muslims, or Latinos or any minority, don’t have the same opinion on every issue either. Why should we expect all Republicans or all Democrats to agree on every issue? Finally, the world just isn’t that simple. If you can distill an issue into black and white, you are lying to yourself and others. There is nuance in the world, and if you don’t accept it you may be more at ease, but you are still living a lie. The bottom line is that, regardless of their opinion, someone who treats the other side of a debate as an enemy does not deserve your vote. If anything is un-American, it is closed minded and aggressive intolerance.

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