Your Identity is

Political Identity for most Americans looks something like this:

1. I am a true American
2. I support [insert Party Membership] because they tend to reflect my values.
3. The [insert Opposition Party] has a destructive agenda

These are the presuppositions that we all share.

 

Some people who are particularly self-aware might add:

4(a). The [insert opposition party] believes that I have a destructive agenda.
which would then be followed immediately by:
4(b). [But] I am right.

Perhaps most "enlightened" among us might be able to include instead:


5. They may be also right.
or,
6. I may be incorrect.
 

However, I submit that the majority of  American citizen's Political Identity is simply 1, 2, 3:

1. I am a true American
2. I support [insert Party Membership] because they tend to reflect my values.
3. The [insert opposition party] has a destructive agenda

Abortion

• I am a true American; I support Republican party; the Democrats want to murder babies.
• I am a true American; I support Democratic party; the Republicans want to control women's bodies

Guns:

• I am a true American; I support Republican party because the Democrats want to disarm the people and then invade our communities.
• I am a true American; I support Democratic party because the Republicans don't care if people live or die when it's incredibly preventable.

Science:

• I am a true American; I support Republican party who are not swayed by the agendas of atheist scientists who make up data to support their own worldview.
• I am a true American; I support Democratic who are not swayed by the agendas of religious leaders who make up data to support their own worldview.

Education:

• I am a true American; I support Republican party because the Democrats want indoctrinate our children in the Public School system.
• I am a true American; I support Democratic party because the Republicans want to indoctrinate children in the private school system.

There are thousands of examples that we could explore demonstrating this structure of belief, but the beliefs are not important for this conversation. What is important is that these statements are all built of the presumption that "I am correct". That is to say, your values are the standard for good values because if one is a good person, they would have good values. And obviously you are a good person. Or at least you are correct. You're pretty sure.


We are not wrong when we believe ourselves to be correct: the world makes sense when you think about it correctly (like you assume you do). But it can be more difficult to assume that your political opponent sees the world correctly. The assumption there is that if they are correct, you are incorrect. We don't like to think that we could be incorrect, and so we tend to spend a fair amount of time making sure our beliefs are nice and solid. We make sure every piece of our belief fits together securely. It's the only way people Like Ted Cruz or Jill Stein can exist. The whole world makes sense in their own personal way of seeing the world.

If, then, we are so secure in the correctness of our own position, at times, thinking about what the other side is fighting for seems abhorrent.  Consider abortion:  How can they believe [X]? Depending on your side of this argument, the other's position is psychotic.
Last week, I saw a newspaper clipping of a quote from a woman in Alabama:

"I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm forced to vote for either a pedophile [Roy Moore] or someone who believes in abortion."
For some people, it might seem to be an obvious choice. But for this woman, it's devastating. She is in deep anguish because of what she thinks about abortion.  But it depends on how you are viewing the world.
When I was growing up as a pastor's son, I attended a lot of church services. I learned an awful lot about religion in the Ancient Near-East. I was taught that the Ancient Israelites were told to slaughter all the Moloch worshipers. They didn't. ( It's a running trend in the old testament. False Gods would corrupt the people, and then god would punish the Israelites till they apologized for going to the false gods.)   Moloch was one of the most popular of the ancient gods, and part of their worship included human sacrifice. They would create a bronze idol, and they would build a roaring fire, and they would throw their living babies into the furnace and listen to them sizzle and hear their screams, and if they were loud enough their god would hear your prayer and know you were serious and answer your prayer for whatever, more crops, better rain, more gold. They sacrificed their own flesh and blood, so I was taught, for stuff.
And how easy do you think it was to pivot, mid-sermon, to: "And today, young women, eager for status, or a job, or career, or anything else that they think will lead to happiness... they just have to sacrifice a little baby. They worship at the same idol! Their lust and greed and idolatry culminating in the murder of babies....!"
And you'd listened to this sermon once a quarter, at least, plus also on special occasions (because who doesn't love a thrilling sermon) for 15 or 20 years of your life, it might make sense why voting for someone who supports abortion might still seem worse than voting for a pedophile. You're a baby killer.
They don't realize that the goal of Planned Parenthood is to reduce the number of teen pregnancies and have fewer abortions.  And also that fewer women would die. They won't believe you even if they'd listen.
It's a matter of perspective. Or rather, it's a matter of Information.


The problem isn't that you may be wrong. It's that we refuse to see anyone else as right.
Only when combine our rights, maybe we can see something closer to the truth.