Political conformity

I have already talked a little about political conformity when I mentioned how people confuse issues. Political conformity in America is actually quite substantial, so I wanted to add little depth to this topic.

The Patriot Act is a really good example of how political conformity works. When Bush signed the Patriot Act into law, liberals were furious. They called it one of the worst pieces of legislation in American history. By contrast, most conservatives defended the law on the grounds that you have nothing to worry about if you don't do anything wrong.

That was under Bush. Provisions were set to expire. What did Barack Obama do? He renewed key provisions of the controversial law. Suddenly, conservatives suddenly changed their minds and insisted that this was overreach. Liberals started insisting that you had nothing to worry about if you did nothing wrong. They also attacked anyone who opposed the law for being hypocrites.

The two political parties essentially swapped side on an issue purely on the basis of the signature on the law. Democrats used the hypocrisy of Republicans to defend their own hypocrisy. This drove me nuts. I saw all kinds of comments on the law online where people assumed that people were for the law just because they were against the law under Obama. Here's where things really became frustrating. I did not see a single instance in which anyone defended themselves by saying they were against the law under Bush.

This is a big problem with political conformity. The idea that someone opposing a law proves that they previously supported the same law seems absurd. Unfortunately, it also turns out that it's usually valid. I can honestly say that I'm among the minority that had the same opinions of the law regardless of whose name was on it. I always viewed this as overreach.

As I have repeatedly stated, I am not a Republican. I have also openly acknowledged that I'm further away from the Democrats than the Republicans. In this politicized landscape, my issues with the Democrats are viewed as evidence that I will mindlessly embrace the narrative fed to me by the Republicans.

To further complicate things, most information sources (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Associated Press, Washington Post, New York Times, etc.) are already attacking the Republicans. This taps into another repeated comment of mine. I do not like wasting my time writing what you can find elsewhere. This means that I'm less likely to share my frustrations with the Republicans. Although I'm closer to Republicans than Democrats, my posts make me look even closer to the Republicans than I really am. This ultimately means that a lot of people make faulty assumptions of who I am.