The Ugly Spread of Partisanship

Taylor Swift? Really?

Photo by Tetiana Grypachevska on Unsplash

Taylor Swift at the heart of a political conspiracy?   I wish I could actually say in response, “who the h** is Taylor Swift.  In apology I can only regret that I am not that shielded in my viewing life.  Actually, I’ve glad to see a female performer get the kind of attention what male entertainers received in the past. 

But a political plot?  Do the election results hang on this thin thread?    Play the right song and someone loses the election? 

There is, though, more to it than this and it is worth a bit more comment.  Rarely does political partisanship spread out like we are seeing it today.  It seems to infect every nock and cranny of life. Like jam on your toast? MAGA!  What if I step over or on the lines on the pavement?  If you people like pine trees, I want to cut them down and plant oak. 

It can’t be healthy to carry this kind of load through life.  There is beauty in both the sunrise and the sunset.  One is not Republican and the other Democrat. 

And to be serious for a moment, consider that too great an extension of partisanship undercuts the possibility of democratic choice.  Democracy works best, perhaps only works, in a society where there are many games, aspiration, satisfactions, opportunities in life that are independent of political winning and losing. 

You can only comfortably accept the other “party” in control of the government when it is not all powerful.  Living in an economically free, intellectually rich, religiously diverse society provides a person with many ways to satisfy material wants, social status and human enjoyments.  Politics is not exactly on the sidelines.  In fact, its effect is often more far reaching than we realize.  But it is only one of the many social complexes of which we are part and which provides challenges and rewards.

I’ve been reading about Nazi occupation of Wartime Paris.  The occupation colored all parts of life and not just for the Jewish population.  The distinction between occupier and occupied was everywhere.  And fear was unrelenting.  I’ve written about the failure of democracy in countries where being in or out of favor with the government affected almost all of life’s reward. 

We need to step back for a moment during this election season and watch the sun disappear and rise again.  And watch the Cubs, or the Giants, or the Guardians climb up in the standings.  

Two things are true.  Perhaps not in this order.  There isn’t a MAGA or non MAGA way to sing songs or dance on stage.  Celebrities have often supported candidates (i.e. Western singers and Republicans) and it hasn’t much mattered. 

I hope no one is waiting until I disclose my choice for any office, before deciding how they are going to vote.

And second, the day after, the week after, the month after, the year after, the election, the same eggs will be frying in the same pan in the same kitchen, and the day’s newspaper will still be thudding against a lot of doors. 

Pat Chicken Little on the head and put a little whiskey in his feed.