The Moral Dichotomy of US Politics.
There was a time, not too long ago, when I believed that political beliefs were opinions, and nothing more. I thought that each person was entitled to his or her political beliefs and that they could not be right or wrong. It is apparent to me now that this is not the case. Because political ideologies have wide, far-reaching effects when implemented, and these effects can be objectively seen as good or bad, then those beliefs that caused those effects can also be seen as good or bad. Simply put, if your beliefs cause others to suffer(for no good reason), then your beliefs are immoral.
The Democrats
This is what I’ve realized in American politics. The Democratic Party’s beliefs fundamentally work to ease the suffering of the toiling masses, the disadvantaged, and the cheated. This is not just in theory. The Democrats push for expanding the social safety net, eliminating college debt, making healthcare for all (not just those who can afford it), and creating programs to care for the disabled and mentally ill.
The Democrats’ domestic economic policy is firmly rooted in Keynesian economic theory (which has stood the test of time). They tax the people who lead lives of exorbitant overabundance and luxury so that the people who are working two jobs just to survive can have some breathing room. They fight like hell for social equality and social justice.
The Democratic Party fights for the collective good and for the minority. Not only that, they fight for the world by taking on climate change and seeking to effect meaningful, substantive change. I see all of this, and I cannot help but think “This is right”.
The Republicans
Then, I see the Republican’s policies and beliefs. The beliefs are rooted in individualism, rule of law, and right to do as you please. This sounds great in theory until you look at the effects of their policies, a large part of Republican domestic policy is low taxes and low government involvement. Well, what happens when you cut taxes? The average person might get a bit of money, and the rich usually get a boatload of money. And how do they ‘pay’ for it? By cutting the programs that Democrats have made to help people. So they make the poor suffer more so that the rich can have even more luxury and decadence.
Speaking of economic policy, the Republicans have faith in something called supply-side economics. I say ‘have faith’ because the supply-side economic theory was debunked about 3 decades ago, yet they persist in implementing that theory into policy. Why? Because supply-side and trickle-down theory says that the less you tax the rich, the better off the economy will be as a whole. They do not care that it doesn’t actually work, they only care about being taxed less. Then you have low government involvement in business, apparently, regulating businesses to make sure they pay a livable wage with safe conditions is a bad thing, and cutting these regulations is good.
If we’re on the topic of deregulation, the Republicans are firmly anti-climate change. When the Democrats try to pass EPA regulations on harmful pollutants, the Republicans always vote no. They just don’t care about the environment when it costs them money to fix it.
Ironically, the Republicans push for government ownership of women’s bodies through the pro-life movement, because they believe that a woman should be forced to carry a baby to term, regardless of their ability or resources to care for the child. This is the same party that aggressively cuts the benefits from social safety nets that might allow a potential mother to give her child a good life. I see all of this, and I cannot help but think “This is wrong”.
Within the details of political discourse, there is a great deal of grey area to be found, I will not deny that. And there is a lot of topics of debate that do come down to someone’s personal opinion. But when I see one party fight for the greater good and the other party fight for more money at the cost of other’s suffering, I only see right and wrong.
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