The Politics of Hate

I grew up a multi-generation household.  My grandparents were mid-western small business owners.  Which meant we were Republicans.  Historically, the Republican party was the party of small business and the Democratic party represented Wall Street.  Now they are both the party of Wall Street.  But that's a separate essay.  My grandparents were Goldwater republicans and cheered the election of Ronald Regan.  But politics was just too far removed from my life to have much of an impact.  That changed when my mother re-married when I was a teenager. 

My mother married an evangelical Christian.  And I was suddenly made aware that our country was locked in a mortal battle for its very soul.  At least it felt that way.  And for the first time I had an opinion.  In my first presidential election I supported George Bush in his re-election campaign.  Which, of course, he lost.  

While in college I explored my political interests.  First step was joining the Model UN debate team.  Where we spent all year preparing for debates to be held at the UN in New York.  I also went to a few Young Republican meetings and was eventually elected to the student government association.  What I learned from these activities shaped my political outlook.   

The Model UN taught me directly how much appearance has an effect on success.  We hear that all our lives but I finally got to live that reality.  It also taught me how the sausage is made, which isn't pretty. The  Young Republicans taught me that I just wasn't like them in some fundamental way.  They were very judgmental of people who disagreed with them.  There was a harshness to their views I didn't share.  I was much more interested in the philosophy, the ideas, than some crusade. 

Student government taught me the most.  Our elected body was split between the Black Caucus (democrats) and the Young Republicans.  A divide that never made sense to me.  The body mostly debated national issues.  I ended up in a small, quiet, moderate minority.  We'd sit together and roll our eyes.  The most often point I stood up to make would be that our current discussion was wasting everyone's time.  Very little of what we did helped our student body.  

I was also on the Ways and Means committee.  Which was really the only committee that mattered.  We took the duly collected student fees and passed them out to the worthy.  And I was there to represent the Model UN debate team.  I made this clear to everyone early on.  There was no quid pro quo with my professor, it was just understood.  As a member of a debate team I was expected to win my debate. 

I was moderately successful for the Model UN.  I kept our team from being defunded but I didn't increase funding.  Having played my card, I was on the sidelines for much of the rest of the budget fight.  But it was all very political.  The two sides who fought in public were quite happy to trade money behind closed doors.  And worthy causes that didn't play the game got nothing.  Halfway through my term the appropriations were finished.  And I was disgusted with the whole process, including my part.  I tendered my resignation.

It was around this time that I started having conversations with my brother about libertarianism.  It really fit with how I  was felling.  Having been on the inside just a tiny bit, I couldn't identify with either major party.  I started reading up on F. A. Hayek and taking out copies of Reason magazine. And by the 1996 election I voted Libertarian for the first time.  Seeing no difference between Bush and Gore I didn't even bother to vote in the 2000 election.  

The lesson I've taken from my experiences is that people basically fall within the 80/20 rule.  The Democrats, the Republicans, share many of the same core values.  What they disagree on is largely aesthetics.  And yet they all seem to hate each other.  Is it evolutionary to hate the other?  Or are we just that easily manipulated?  Or do we actually enjoy hating other people?  I don't have any answers.  I just don't want to be part of it.