Politics and Insanity

I do what I can to encourage people to behave like responsible-for-things adults. It's hard when there are so few really good examples around and so much destructive and childish behavior. It makes me reluctant to support most groups or idealogies because I keep feeling like the moment I turn my back, they'll stick out their tongue at someone and I'll have to shut off the lights. I'd love to be able to do that to a roomful of politicians, in person. I've seen my mother do it in meetings when people got too snotty to hear, "Let's calm down and get back to business." It gets their attention.

>> When the ideology *requires* a disconnect from and denial of reality, or a "faith" in a "different reality" than the one we actually live in, then it becomes a pathology, or a cult. <<

Okay, that's a valid argument. It may apply to some of the politicized subgroups, considering the problems that one Republican had with his former constituents, though I'm not sure it applies to the main parties yet.

People are methodically driving them away. And we NEED them. It's a serious problem.

My closest match is the Green Party, but they rarely have candidates in my area. I usually vote for Democrats as closer to my preferences than Republicans, but sometimes I vote for a Republican if I like that candidate better. I prefer to check the candidates for important campaigns myself, rather than stick to party lines.

>>When I talk to conservative friends (I consider myself liberal generally), I often find that we have the same ultimate goals, just different approaches to those goals. And sometimes what appears to be an illogical stance is then explained to the point where I can see what's driving it and work better to find common ground. <<

That happens with me too. It's a key reason why I want to have some conservative friends. I need the counterpoint -- and I need to have some sensible people whose judgment I respect, for times when some conservative idea just seems incomprehensible to me and I need an explanation of it from their perspective. What's in the media is so exaggerated on both sides that it's often useless.

>>And sometimes what appears to be an illogical stance is then explained to the point where I can see what's driving it and work better to find common ground. <<

Precisely. If we can at least agree on a problem, we can try to find solutions that will be at least tolerable for all concerned. Sometimes the first few ideas to hit the table are stupid ones, and you really need to be able to talk through why they won't work for various people, until you can find something that will.

>>I'm not saying I don't meet those that frustrate me to no end--but it's usually because they have no desire to find common ground. I'm big on balance, which means including both approaches.<<

Dehumanizing the enemy and refusing to communicate are tactics that really frustrate me too. It bothers me to see them becoming more popular.