1/ I was reading through a thread last night that debated the certainty of either Republicans or Democrats being "right" on any given position. Predictably, tribalism won out as those on their respective sides were more certain that they were "right."
2/ This seems to me to be a rather narrow prism to view the world or any given political issue. In reality, both major political parties have sought to wield the power of the state for their own partisan advantages.
3/ Republicans or Democrats may be marginally "better" on one particular issue or another (depending upon how you define "better"), but fundamentally these are both statist parties.
4/ A different (and in my mind, a more accurate) prism is viewing the world as state power vs. social power (or liberty). This is not a new idea. It has been expressed by Albert Jay Nock and elaborated upon by Murray Rothbard.
5/ When viewed in that light, across the whole, there is very little difference between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans sometimes preach, but almost never practice, small government. Democrats embrace the big government that Bill Clinton claimed to abandon in 1996.
6/ Despite being dressed up in noble aims, big gov't is always destructive to liberty. Its victims are all of us but minorities are almost always worse off. Not being able to bridge the disconnect between well-meaning aims and destructive outcomes is among our biggest failures.
7/ Events of the past year are the most recent example of this disconnect. There are no solutions, only tradeoffs. To minimize, dismiss, or not even acknowledge these tradeoffs is to be stuck in this mindset. Such people will continue to embrace state power for political means.
8/
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