Enjoy Partisanship, Enjoy Being Different

I spend a lot of time thinking about politics.  It’s an election year, and people are taking sides, dividing the country up into different little groups they can easily identify.  In the next couple of weeks you’ll soon be identified as a Democrat or Republican, pro-life or choice, everything will be a decision on who best suits your individual values.  What a great system.

I love politics, and I adore partisanship.  It’s completely corny, but this country is built upon the right to disagree.  We each have individual ideas on how to improve society, whether it’s a need for more funding for the arts, or education, or even defense.  And these ideas need to be fleshed out, expounded upon, and then they must be debated.  We can have real debates from idealists, from realists and cynics, in the attempt to discover the facts and how our decisions could impact the future.  We can have a confluence of ideas, simply by being informed, opinioned and vocal about both.

One of the most overlooked aspects of partisanship, however, is informed.  In the information age, where we could easily get specifics, track plans and implement ideas through the internet, our candidates refuse to give accurate and complete information.  Campaigns are being boiled down to “I will create twelve million new jobs in my first year,” or “My opponent’s plan will actually add trillions to the deficit.”  These are mind-boggling statistics, and yet I have no idea where they come from.  If this candidate is elected, what will he do?  He’ll fix the economy, but how?  And is this the right thing to do?  If it turns out to be a disastrous plan, how will we know?  I’m speaking in generic terms myself because I don’t have any data from these campaigns, and I want information.  I want to know what programs will be cut to help pay for others. 

For a hypothetical instance, cutting defense funding in deference to education is a difficult pill to swallow.  But not paying for missile defense programs that are proven to be ineffective and extremely costly could save millions each year, which could hire new teachers, or put more computers in public schools, or possibly even fund some national art projects.  And maybe my stance of for education is completely wrong, that this hypothetical missile defense system is just a short step away from becoming the backbone of a defense program, but I want to know how I’m wrong and why it is important.  Information breeds opinions based on facts, not mere speculation.

We all have difficult decisions to make this coming election.  My advice is simple: research.  Research the candidate, what he says his plans are and his track record.  Research what these plans could possibly mean for the country, and whether or not you agree with them.  And most importantly, research yourself.  What do you believe in?  Odds are you won’t be simply defined as Republican or Democrat.  There are dozens of issues to consider, and only you know what you stand for and how important this stance is to you.

After that, it’s simple.  Pull the lever, cast your vote, and enjoy being yourself.