Over the weekend my husband and I spent some time talking about politics. Now, on almost every issue we generally agree with one another. Yet we regularly vote on opposite sides of any given issue. The reason, it seems, is priorities...
Very few people (with the possible exception of the Arizona Legislature and Governor) would say that abusing animals is acceptable behavior. No one really WANTS to pay 50% taxes. In fact, on many issues you will find that republican's and democrats AGREE when asked about the issue in isolation.
Where the differences come in, however, is often in how the issues are PRIORITIZED when it comes to choosing a candidate. My husband and I are prime examples of this. We both want smaller government, believe that politicians should stay out of the way of how individuals live their lives, and support the constitution as written (and wish it were actually dealt with that way). However when we start to drill into specific issues and prioritize the most important ones, we start to see a rift.
For him, 2nd and 4th amendment issues are key; the government needs to keep it's hands of his guns and not abuse its power. For me, issues of privacy (1st, 14th) and freedom of (and from) religion (1st) are more crucial; the government needs to keep it's hands off my uterus and to stop codifying judeo-christian religions beliefs as though they were universals.
The result should be clear; we neatly cancel each other out by voting for opposing candidates in nearly every election. I can't stomach voting for a conservative candidate, since even the ones who are not primarily interested in religious-based issues still vote with the religious right. Further, it was conservatives (in the name of security) who have eroded due process and privacy by way of things like the Patriot Act. My husband, in contrast, cannot stomach voting for a liberal candidate because nearly all favor draconian (and unconstitutional) gun control laws.
This is why I perceive the two-party system as a failure. When two people who basically AGREE end up voting for opposing parties, something is wrong. In an effort to dumb-down the complexities of running a state of 6.5M people and a country of 311.5M people, both parties have forced candidates into a rigid, lock-step set of beliefs. Republican's are against gun control and abortion, for smaller government and lower taxes. Democrats are against guns and for abortion and expanded social safety net programs. Both claim to be for education, but republican's don't want to pay for it. Both claim to favor freedom of religion, but republican's only want you to be free to practice a religion that agrees with theirs. It is rare to see a major candidate break ranks.
That leaves people like, frankly, both of us out in the cold, struggling to find the least objectionable among any list of candidates. And when that happens, it comes down to priorities; which issues do we think are most important, and voting for people who are strong on those issues even if we disagree with them on other issues. It's a no-win situation.