Knowing where your Loyalties Lie

Just talking about Politics can make the best of friends mortal enemies overnight. You don’t agree with them and they throw a label at you. People love throwing the “racist” word at you. I hear that one tossed around like salad in a bowl. You are either a racist, a whacko, consumed with hate or worse, just because you have a different view. I think that my grandmother said never talk about sex, politics or religion. Unbelievable, that in this Century, there are still those who get screaming mad and threaten to cut off the left side of your brain for not agreeing with them or delete your member account from their web site. Laughable? Perhaps. More like Unbelievable.

As far as I am concerned, both the Democratic Party, the Republican Party and all political parties have a lot to be desired. I probably say that because I consider myself a conservative Democrat and know that no one group has all the answers. Those who are so strongly committed one way or the other to actually go so far as to be rude and insulting have to make me skeptical and wonder if they just forgot to get enough sleep or eat their Wheaties. Don’t get me wrong—you have to fully understand who you support and why but sometimes there really is a fine line of distinction. I thought Hillary and Obama were closely aligned as to thought and policy. Hillary had the most experience and the most prestige. I don’t know how the power play worked to defeat her in the Primary. It more than likely was the big lie and the press doing its dirty deed.

Locally our Democratic Club is going through a crisis of major proportions. The Parliamentarian of the Democratic Executive Committee has told the Officers and Directors that their loyalty and support, even in a non-partisan race, must be with Democrats. PERIOD. There are some in the Club who are fighting that tooth and nail…won’t resign and want to continue on as if all is well and pretend that they don’t understand the By-Laws or that the rules have not been clarified to their liking…some who still support Republicans. The thought process is, if no action is taken then the problem will all go away; we all will forget about it. They should form a Republican Club.

We are a wonderful yet dysfunctional city filled with some dysfunctional people who might mean well most of the time but are part of the problem all of the same. You have to know where your loyalties lie and it’s not with the "enemy," not when you have taken a Loyalty Oath to support Democrats and not when you can’t talk a problem through without total character assassination and someone blaming it on your hormones. We have still, a long way to go towards perfecting just plain civility and good old common sense.