FUCK THE POLICE
911 EVERY DAY
I know I have defended partisanship on here before. I don't think there's anything wrong with a group of people forming together with coherent political positions to make their views better understood by the public. It, if anything, improves democracy by at least allowing people a blind shot at the beliefs of the person they are voting for (and if party discipline is well enforced, an exact shot). And it keeps personality politics out of the thing (yeah, I know you're a nice person, but you're a Republican and you'll oppose universal healthcare, so I don't care).
But I think what most people hate is when partisanship descends into pure teamism.
I support this because the Democrats support this! That's not a rational position.
And I know a lot of people will object to that, that they don't think they support a single position just because they're party supports it. But I think they are subconsciously affected by teamism more than they'd like to admit. For instance, the Democrats in the 40's used to accuse the Republicans of unamericanism for opposing the WWII (before Pearl Harbour). In the 60's, Republicans ran on a peace platform. In 00's, Republicans told Democrats they were unAmerican if they opposed the "war on terrorism". The "is this war good or bad?" issue seems to be entirely reactive to the other parties beliefs on the issue.
The other party is always waiting for their goons to pop out and take advantage weakness in the other guys. They don't care if this is good for the nation or not - they just support their guys, and don't think beyond this.
I'm just wondering how it is possible to have a rational political system that is not affected by irrational personality politics or irrational teamism? It doesn't seem to be possible.
But I think what most people hate is when partisanship descends into pure teamism.
I support this because the Democrats support this! That's not a rational position.
And I know a lot of people will object to that, that they don't think they support a single position just because they're party supports it. But I think they are subconsciously affected by teamism more than they'd like to admit. For instance, the Democrats in the 40's used to accuse the Republicans of unamericanism for opposing the WWII (before Pearl Harbour). In the 60's, Republicans ran on a peace platform. In 00's, Republicans told Democrats they were unAmerican if they opposed the "war on terrorism". The "is this war good or bad?" issue seems to be entirely reactive to the other parties beliefs on the issue.
The other party is always waiting for their goons to pop out and take advantage weakness in the other guys. They don't care if this is good for the nation or not - they just support their guys, and don't think beyond this.
I'm just wondering how it is possible to have a rational political system that is not affected by irrational personality politics or irrational teamism? It doesn't seem to be possible.