To all my family members and friends on Facebook: I know how annoying it can be when people post their political views on Facebook, and I have to think hard before I do it myself. But let me explain a little bit (okay, a lot) about the reasons why I might do it, when I do it.
I don't want my friends and relatives to think of me as a Democrat or Republican (or even as an independent, (although I'd probably rather have people think of me as someone who IS independent than as "an independent.") I don't want to be defined as a fanboy of anyone or anything - be it a Dodge truck fan (though I have a Dodge truck), a White Sox fan (well, that's not so bad if it means I'm not a Cubs fan), or an Obama fan.
The way I do want people to see me is as a caring and intelligent person with strong values. My values are in everything I do, including my job. Those values include humor, a sense of family and community, and above all, the "social triad": Social responsibility, social equality, and social justice. I work where I work because that institution shares those values, and I believe in making them my highest priorities.
Now, I have those values because I think they are what gives human life its highest meaning. In fact, they are what make us human. It's my belief that anything that is "exceptional" about the United States of America comes from those values, not from the laws we make, the policies we pursue, the wars we wage, the flag we wave (or burn), or the people we elect. Even the Constitution is just a piece of paper if our values don't help us to create that "common good" it talks about.
Although these values pretty much reflect what Christian spiritual beliefs teach us, I don't believe that those values dictate the views that a person should or shouldn't have about religion (unless they are fanatical views - like a belief that it is necessary to destroy or punish people who disagree). Neither do those values require me to agree or disagree with any particular economic policy (unless those policies are rooted in values contrary to my values), or adhere to a particular dogma about the "size," role, or nature of government (unless those arguments are really a cover for selfish attitudes that are opposed to my values). News flash: the big bad government is us... It's simply our will as we put it into practice, and it only needs to be as "big" as it has to be, to do what we believe it should do for all of us, not just a few of us.
What I am opposed to is dishonesty, prejudice, hatred, ignorance, whipping up fears and resentments, sloppy thinking, and the mischaracterization (or outright demonization) of my treasured values. I am bitterly opposed to people attempting to exclude others from full and participatory membership in a society of equals, or to use power and control to oppress or exclude people different from themselves, or to treat anyone in any way that they would not wish to be treated themselves. My attitude is pretty much the opposite of "i've got mine, Jack, so screw you." It's more like "I am harmed when the least fortunate is harmed." so the nuns managed to teach me something besides penmanship and telling the truth.
Social responsibility means that I measure every position I hold, every action I take, and every task that I undertake by the standard of whether it helps or hurts the community of people to which I belong. Social equality means that I fight the marginalization, labeling, or judging of people for any reason, and fight my own inner prejudices - prejudices that, despite my good intentions, have been inculcated in me from living for over half a century in a society that can be sadly ignorant and prejudiced against so many of its members. Social justice means that I accept responsibility for taking the time, effort, and expense to do what I can to see that injustices and wrongs being done to people are righted as much as we can right them, and to work to build social structures that will prevent people from being abused, oppressed, cheated, neglected, persecuted, harassed, discouraged, and harmed through no fault of their own.
I'm not perfect, but I do want to try to live up to those ideals.
So when I post a link or applaud a story on Facebook, you should understand why I do it. I'm either drawing attention to a positive example of people doing things right according to my values, or trying to raise awareness of something that I believe is harming the worldwide human condition or making it more likely that people will suffer. Lots of times, I admit that I will use my sense of humor to draw attention to the absurdities of what people in power (or people who seek power) are saying. Or I may indulge in some pure snark once in awhile. But I hope that it's snark for a good cause, since my values are always the over-arching consideration.
I will be especially outraged when people try to hide selfishness, intolerance, greed, racism, power-grabbing, theft, double-crossing, and downright hatred behind a smokescreen of virtue, moralism, freedom, or "success and prosperity" talk. I will be enraged when people disrespect others by using pure meanness and name-calling. I will call out loudly when I see dishonesty and lazy thinking. I refuse to respect those who subtract social value to enrich themselves, while trumpeting their own "success," and implying that those victimized by these schemes are unworthy, undeserving, or "lazy."
In the process, I may appear to be partisan. But that's only the case because one party in this country seems to have decided that the ends justify any means, and has abandoned the values that are most important to me. All I can say in response is that you should ignore the speeches, ignore the nasty ads, and look at the platforms of the parties as you decide which set of principles and proposed actions would be in the best interest of us all. In the process, you will need to question all the assumptions that underlie those platforms, but that's part of your responsibility as a citizen. It involves a skill called critical thinking. It's a skill that is unfortunately not being taught as well these days as it was when I was going to school.
In fact, one of the political parties has come out and said (through a law passed in one state and a platform in another state) that it's wrong to teach our kids critical thinking skills, because it undermines respect for authority. That should tell you all you need to know about how they think they have to behave in order to gain power. It's the same as using sneaky tactics to make it disproportionately difficult for poor people, students, or elderly people to exercise their right to vote, because they might vote the wrong way. That is below contemptible. And making up lies and stoking fears about widespread "voter fraud" using racial stereotypes and economic fears is disgusting. And I'll call out this awful scheming every time I see it.
If you can't govern without using fear, hate, and lies, you don't deserve to govern. It's no wonder Congress has the lowest approval rating in history.
And if you squawk about how you want to subject us all to the wonderful free market, and then build business models on taking money meant for the public good, diverting it into your pockets, and cheating vulnerable people out of services we paid for, you're despicable. I'm talking privatized prisons and schools. I'm talking you, Chris Christie. No Mob-connected Teamster boss had anything on you.
But where I want to end up here is to emphasize that I take the Common Good very seriously, and get pretty upset when I sense that a politician, or a political party, is playing games with our civilization, our people, or our planet, in order to gain an advantage for themselves at the expense of the common good. And while the Democratic Party is far from perfect, and the average Democratic politician is strikingly ...average, the average Republican politician has to have a severe case of denial to be able to sleep at night, given the level of full-on craziness being embraced by that party in the past few years. And how do they still get people to support them given how obvious the lies, the craziness, and the hatred have become? Well, they seem to have hit on a winning combination: when a lie works, double down and keep repeating it. When even FOX BLINKIN' NEWS calls your speeches the biggest collection of lies they've ever seen, well, heck... just keep repeating the same lies! As long as it keeps your base fired up, screw integrity.
And there's more! Rely on peoples' laziness, prejudice, cynicism, mistrust, and racism to poison the whole discourse so your lies and meanness seem like "just what they all do." Then you can make use of your army of Internet-connected bozos to post awful, hateful comments about every bit of news that happens, until people become desensitized to it and start not noticing the racist and mean-spirited tone of our national conversation. Get a little help from the media, who take the easy way out by claiming to be "fair" and refusing to call the liars out on their lies, calling them "points of view" or "differences of opinion." It's what some have called the "Post-truth Age."
And false equivalencies have replaced logic. What I refer to as "Because George Soros, that's why" thinking.
So if anything I post, any link I like, or any position I take offends you after knowing my values and how I see things, and considering the issue I raise, well then, maybe you should un-friend me. But if you see the sense in what I'm saying, don't worry, there'll be more where that came from.
And when you think about politics, don't think it's impolite to call people out when - either intentionally or without thinking - they support people and policies that hurt the common good. That hurt our planet. That hurt our kids' futures. That hurt humanity. That make those of us who had dreams and ideals in our teens and twenties wonder if we stumbled into some bizarre alternate America conceived as satire or horror by Stephen King. Or that just make you crazy with their brazen effrontery, like Paul Ryan lying about his marathon time. Or that depress us by reminding us that schoolyard bullies like Karl Rove and Grover Norquist have so much cynical power to thwart the good intentions of good people and concentrate political and economic power with those who have the most money. While decent working people who try to stand up for each other are labeled "thugs."
And - after making yourself informed about their platforms - if you agree that one of our parties is now pushing alarmingly goofy ideas that even the John Birch Society would have hesitated to say out loud forty years ago, you have two choices. You can help them do it, by liking their smiling candidates and helping them win, or you can hold them accountable, by complaining loudly that they don't represent your values or your ideas about how we're supposed to conduct ourselves as civilized human beings. Voting against them isn't enough. It hasn't made them less crazy in the past four years, in case you hadn't noticed. And not voting is worse.
At the same time, you'll see me point out and celebrate those who take actions that help to put my values into practice. They usually do it quietly, so they need the attention. It's a lot easier to sow hate and division than it is to take the small and difficult steps needed to make a better world.
And in closing, I'm going to say - for the first and last time in my life - "Like and share if you agree."
