I Used to be Part of the R vs D War!

Here's a post that I published on a long-since disappeared (out of business) platform in 2016. I believe it is still relevant.

We don’t realize it.  We don’t even know it is happening to us.  Like a terminal cancer or a sniper…it sneaks.  It seeks.  It eventually destroys free thought and, ultimately, destroys possible relationships between us and those who could help us on our path to liberty.  What is it?

The war between the Rs and the Ds!  (Republicans and Democrats… but it can be anything in life… religions, environmental views, food views and the list goes on and on and on and on…)

How does this happen to us?  I wish I had that answer. But, I have an idea how.  I believe, for the most part, it is our desire to fit in with a *chosen* (yes I said chosen) peer group that we feel is relevant at the time.  When we feel we have found a place to fit in and most of the people around us have a certain belief structure, we embrace that belief structure as our own.  At first we might still retain our own thoughts and feelings on issues but, eventually, we allow ourselves to become completely absorbed by the herd and, for fear of being rejected by them, become so completely polarized by them that we can’t see anything else.  No one likes to be rejected.  Everyone likes their ideas to be accepted.  Most people like to have the affirmation that they are right.  When we only surround ourselves with people of like mind, we set ourselves up to become polar opposites of any dissenting viewpoint and cut ourselves off from possible solutions to problems that might differ from our own.

How many of us have been there?  I think all of us.  It might not have been political in nature… but just think about it for a minute and I’ll bet you can come up with something in your own life that you refused to budge on because you didn’t want to go against the herd you were a part of at the time. 

This is exactly what has happened in America.  A gang called Republicans and a gang called Democrats have stolen our futures from us (among other things… the greatest of those being Liberty).  And those who are trapped in those mindsets are constantly warring against one another, refusing to budge even an inch.  It’s one thing to have principles (if they truly are real principles) that we adhere ourselves to.  It’s another completely to be so dogmatic in our views on issues that affect all of us that we can no longer even discuss an issue with another person that doesn’t believe exactly like we do.

I was one of those in my much younger years (from the fake R side).  I refused to even listen to ideas from someone from the fake “D” side.  They were all crazy to me.  And, after all, the people I hung out with all said so.  They couldn’t be wrong could they?  After all, how could a homosexual male democrat possibly have any kind of solution to “climate change”?  And that black democrat single mother of three couldn’t in a million years know anything about how to better care for the needy.  That 16 year old punk with piercings couldn’t possibly have any good ideas on how to keep kids from getting in trouble on the street.   That “too clean” Republican with the suit and tie wouldn’t have a good idea about Tax Policy (not that there really are many “good” ideas on taxes…but I hope you get my point).  That church going family of so called conservative right wing extremist Republicans couldn’t possibly have any input on freedom of religion in America, could they?  That (fill in the blank)… we all know a few examples, I’m sure.  We have all either been one of those examples, have been the one pointing the finger or we, most likely, have been both.

The good news is, it is possible to win the R vs D war by opting out!  Just run that herd right off of the cliff (hypothetically of course).  Some might think the Liberty Community is another herd, and, to an extent it is.  So, what’s the difference?  We all rally around a single issue:  Liberty.  My definition of liberty might not be the same as everyone in the movement any more than yours is the same as mine.

So, what is the difference between the *true* Liberty Community and the R vs D crowd?  As far as I can see no one, not one single person, is being shunned, chided, attacked, made fun of or made to feel unimportant.  Oh, I definitely see some conversations that leave me feeling a little uncomfortable for sure.  Because they go against some of the mindsets I have developed over my life.  But, with a few deep breaths and a little thought I can usually get over these things.  To me, the key is… remembering that they are all just viewpoints and solutions and recommendations and ways of thought that are different from my own.  It doesn’t mean they are all wrong *or* right.  It just means they are different (we do have to be careful in the way we present our view to others though… if we come across as “preachy”, we will always fail to bring someone to our point of view).

Liberty for all isn’t going to become a reality by joining one side or the other in this struggle.  It’s going to come because we came together and said, “You know, I don’t necessarily agree with you on (fill in the blank)…but, I can work with you… because you love liberty and want me to be free… and, I want the same for you”.

When we can do that, and truly internalize it, make it a part of who we are as a person… we will have truly won the R vs D “war” by opting out of it.  And, regardless of what the tyrants in government do, we will truly have (to an extent anyway) our own freedom and liberty.  Because we will be free with one another.  And people who are free with one another can truly throw off the shackles of any government or organization no matter what those do.  Because that kind of Liberty and Freedom can *never* be taken away from us.