People are heavily associating themselves with mainstream partisan parties to the point where they have lost the ability to analyze issues with logic and reasons. Nearly all issues have become partisan in today’s world. People’s beliefs and opinions on a certain issue are not based on logical reasoning anymore, instead they are based on the stance of the political party they associate themselves with. Climate change, Covid-19, racial issues, LGBTQ issues, abortion, gun control, healthcare, minimum wage, immigration, electoral college, and etc., have all become partisan. Just by looking at those current issues, I bet you already know which political faction supports which.

Let’s say someone identifies himself/herself as a liberal/Democrat, it is very likely that this person agrees with the mainstream liberals and the Democratic Party on EVERY issue. It is the same for someone who identifies himself/herself as a conservative/Republican. Like...how likely is this? That a person agrees with one partisan party on EVERYTHING? Is this person actually analyzing issues as they really are with logical reasonings, or is this person blindly following his associated party or being greatly influenced by it without knowing? A conservative today would be denying climate change, taking lightly of Covid-19, denying racism, against LGBTQ, pro-life, against gun control, against healthcare, against minimum wage hike, supporting tougher immigration policies, supporting the electoral college. A liberal would have the exact opposite stance on those issues. How likely is this? Very likely if people are blindly following their associated party, instead of analyzing issues using logic and reasons.

Well of course, there are fundamental reasons why a person identifies himself/herself as a conservative or liberal. Some people identify themselves as conservatives because of their religion and its correlation with social issues such as abortion and LGBTQ. Some people identify themselves as conservatives because they want a small government and hate government interference in the economy. Some people identify themselves as liberals because they want changes to be made and extend the sphere of equality to greater people such as LGBTQ. Some people identify themselves as liberals because they want an active government in the economy to provide welfare to the poor. If you identify yourself as a conservative because of social issues, you do not have to be a conservative economically as well! If you identify yourself as a liberal because of economic issues, you do not have to be a liberal socially as well! 

What people are doing in today’s world is that they are unwilling to analyze issues reasonably and explore new possibilities because they want to fit in with groups and receive approval. They are happy that they have found themselves a “home” where no one would repel them and where they can just follow the “herd” without doing much. This “associative politics” phenomenon is killing humans’ free will and freedom of thoughts. Humans are supposed to become the best they can be through rational thinking and freedom of thoughts. “Associative politics” is suppressing humans’ virtuous nature and subjugating them into mere machines. Humans are not supposed to be machines where they merely listen to mainstream political parties and repeat what they say; humans are supposed to be thinking and advocating for themselves through the use of reasons. People are either unwilling to break away from the holds of partisan groups because they don’t want to lose the comfort of receiving peer approvals and the comfort of not being expelled, or that they don’t actually realize the influence of mainstream partisan groups on them yet.

People today are listening and repeating what the mainstreams say, instead of thinking and advocating for themselves with logic and reasons. Look at the political comments on social media, how many of those are actually original ideas? How many of those included logic and reasons, as opposed to name-calling and emotions? People are merely repeating what the mainstreams say in the comments. Political mainstreams include major political parties like the Democratic Party and the Republican Party; influential commentators and activists such as Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro, Sean Hannity, Charlie Kirk; media companies such as CNN, Fox News, PragerU, The Daily Wire, and Breitbart News. The everyday people are merely listening and repeating what these mainstreams say. Take one of my friends for example, we will call him “John”. John listens to Ben Shapiro’s podcast and watches PragerU’s videos every single day. I asked him why, he said because he is a conservative, so he likes to listen to conservative viewpoints. John and I often discuss politics, and everytime when we discuss, he only repeats what Ben Shapiro says in his podcast. All of John’s arguments are literally repetitions of Ben Shapiro’s arguments. I was genuinely shocked and even a little bit frightened. What is the point of merely repeating the mainstreams and having no thoughts of your own? It was very easy to argue with John and debunk his arguments, because his arguments are not based on his own reasons, they are merely repetitions. Whenever I offer alternate perspectives on issues we are arguing, John would stutter and don’t know how to respond, because Ben Shapiro never “taught” him how to effectively use reasons to form original thoughts. Those exchanges with John made me realize the major issue of the current political world, they made me realize how profoundly “associative politics” has taken roots in everyday politics, they made me realize that people are losing their ability to reason under the influence of mainstreams.

Talking about climate change, we all know Democrats are willing to address it and Republicans tend to deny it. But let’s be real here, how many of us common folks really understand the scientific facts and reasons behind climate change? I see common people denying and affirming climate change on social media, but how many of them actually understand the scientific facts and reasons behind climate change? Do people believe/deny climate change based on scientific facts and reasons, or do people believe/deny climate change based on their political party’s stance, also known as “associative politics? Personally, I have absolutely no clue about the science behind climate change or the environment in general, which is why I am currently “open” on the issue of climate change. I am looking forward to educating myself and listening to arguments (if there are any based on reasons at all) from both sides and come up with a claim based on logic and reasons in the near future. I won’t make a rush and irrational claim to jump on my political party’s train just so I can “fit in” with my people.

Another perfect example that illustrates the danger of “associative politics” is the 2020 presidential election. After the election result, then President Donald Trump claimed there was voter frauds and repeatedly shouted on Twitter “Stolen Election!”. Then guess what happened next? People who voted for Trump listened to Trump’s baseless and reasonless claim and repeated “Stolen Election!” on social media. Those people believed Trump not because his reasoning is sound, but merely because they voted for him, that they are associated with him, so they jumped on the train. They put an emphasis on their association, not reasons. Those people repeated the message “Stolen Election!” immediately after Trump claimed it, when no evidence existed. Now let’s rewind the whole voter fraud issue, how did it start? Did it start because an influential figure made the claim first, or did it start because evidence was found? Which came first? A baseless and reasonless claim, or evidence and reasons?

My personal political story is also an example of the influence of  “associative politics”. When I first entered politics, I chose to identify myself as a conservative, because I was brainwashed by right-wing mainstreams into thinking that the left wants socialism. So I identified myself as a conservative because of economic issues, not social issues or anything else. Yet strangely, I slowly started to associate myself with conservatives on social issues as well. I followed numerous right-wing organizations on social media, and when they post something about denying climate change and against abortion, I somehow agreed with them. Why? I simply chose to agree with my “group” so I can feel more fit in and not waste effort doing my own research and thinking on the issues. I denied climate change and became a pro-life with no reasons in basis. I denied climate change and became a pro-life only because my associatived political group think the same, only because I wanted to fit in more, only because I don’t want to be expelled for my differences. I only realized that I was being slowly indoctrinated by partisan groups after some time. After I realized how associating myself with a partisan group is brainwashing me and subjugating my freedom of thoughts, I broke away from the conservative group and became an independent who analyzed issues as what they really are with reasons instead of partisan association. Now I identify myself as a realpolitik and refuse to associate myself with any partisan parties or ideologies. I hold a pragmatic view on all issues. There are no specific political doctrines or ideologies I strictly follow.

Let us all put greater emphasis on logic and reasons, as opposed to emotions and associations. Let’s stop listening and repeating mainstream partisan groups, and start thinking and advocating using logic and reasons. Let’s break away from the “herd” and start thinking independently. Let’s regain our freedom of thoughts by eliminating “associative politics” in our life. In such a divided time right now, we can achieve unity if each of us stop associating ourselves with mainstream partisan groups, and start thinking independently using reasons.