Your "Side" Is Not Above Criticism
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Politics and Activism

Your "Side" Is Not Above Criticism

Bigotry and bad behavior shouldn't be ignored in the name of party unity.

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Your "Side" Is Not Above Criticism
Florida Politics

Ben Sasse is to blame for Bill Maher joking about slavery and using a tasteless epithet. And Barack Obama is to blame for President Trump doing anything wrong. And President Trump is to blame that Kathy Griffin is utterly classless. And George W. Bush was to blame when Obama did anything wrong. Or so they say.

God forbid either Republicans or Democrats critique "our own" or compliment "those other people", whether they deserve it or not. Extreme partisanship and the idea that your "side" is above criticism are all too prevalent in today's political environment.

The extreme partisan polarization, ever increasing in America over the past century, does our society no favors. Constantly saying "But they did it first!" is puerile and unproductive. Yet we persist in defending "our own" at the expense of common sense and demonizing "the others" at the expense of common decency.

Even though I'm a fake, establishment Republican, I would love to see unity in the party. But party loyalty doesn't mean I have to defend every single ignorant thing the President says or tweets. And I definitely don't have to condone bigoted social conservatives who use "free speech" to justify homophobic slurs. Unity among Republicans is all well and good-- if the party still stands for liberty, justice, morality and other classically liberal, American values. If corruption of these values exists among members of the GOP, we cannot and should not let the corruption fester.

(I've said it before, but it's because I care about the conservative movement that I don't feel the need to defend the trash parts of the GOP. If you value something, you don't fill it with garbage and let it rot).

Likewise, perhaps the Democrats could stop defending corrupt politicians, racism and sexism in their own side in the name of party loyalty. People honestly will defend a liberal talk show host using a racial slur just because he's a Democrat while throwing stones at a moderate Republican senator. Left-wing media types honestly are still giving the Clintons attention, despite their long history of scandalous behavior, because they are such iconic members of the Democratic establishment.

Human nature is inherently bad, and politics is known to bring out the worst in people. Americans accept these truths, but only acknowledge them when they can point fingers at members of the other party. They talk of lying politicians but act like their own are above criticism. They ignore problems in the name of loyalty and then wonder why these problems don't go away, and that's honestly one of the biggest flaws in the American political system.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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