Where's the Party?

Ok, I’m a conservative atheist. Pretty confusing on many fronts, but one area in particular that causes conflict is politics. I’ve been pretty clear on my perspective on issues so you know I find myself in opposition to both political parties here in the United States. I know that there are other parties but for the moment they don’t, in reality, have a chance of getting representatives elected. Obviously, I’m not in total disagreement with any party, and it is likely that you, as well, are not. I am squarely against Republicans on just about any issue where the underlying reason for their perspective is religion. These would include things like abortion, stem cell research and censorship. Likewise I’m in disagreement plenty of the time with Democrats (to include communists). I’m not with them on defense, affirmative action, capital punishment and immigration to name but a few.
Where does that put me on Election Day? How can I choose a side when I can’t find total comfort in either? Well, I have to make some choices. In the absence of a perfectly tailored “party of Frank”, I am forced to choose a side that appears to be the lesser of two evils. That’s the hard part, isn’t it?

I’ve devised a method to help me figure out where I stand. I compile a list of topics that are at the forefront of the political debate. Some of them will be important to you and some will not. The point is to compile a list of issues where there is contention. Next I try to think about each position and determine the long term consequences of each. Then I figure out where I stand on each position. I go down the list of topics and choose the team, Democrat or Republican, with which I most agree. Finally I add up all of the results and pick my winner. Of course each topic in the equation is not of the same value. All issues are not equal in societal impact so I must assign a weight to each to indicate the relative importance, at least from my perspective. I use a 1-5 point scale where 1 indicates “not very important to the future of the United States and mankind” and a score of 5 indicates “of utmost importance to the future of the United States and mankind”. You may disagree with my weighting. For example, I give things like abortion a low rating of “2”. I know that it is a topic with great emotional value to many people but in the end it doesn’t have that great of a direct impact on most of us. Those on the right of the political spectrum often argue that it is the ultimate in immoral acts and those left of center say that there is benefit to stopping unwanted drains on society and resources. Conversely, I give defense a relatively high rating because I feel that our very way of life is at risk from attacks by Islamists and other anti-Americans. The best way to make this a fair exercise for everyone is to have agreement on the relative values. It may be possible to get everyone to agree on what the important issues are, and how important they are. That’s where the agreement will end, which is the reason for the exercise and debate. If you don’t like my assigned values, that’s fine; assign your own if you like. Here’s a little example.

Issue (Importance Value), Winner (Democrat or Republican)

Abortion (2), D
Stem Cell Research (4), D
Separation of Church/State (5), D
Gay Rights (1), D
Capital Punishment (2), R
Defense/War on Terrorism (5), R
Social/Welfare Programs (4), R
Immigration (5), R
Censorship (3), D
Animal Rights (1), R
Environment (4), R
Gun Control (3), R
Totals: Democrat=15, Republican=24

Ok, so my score came out “15” points in favor of Democrat ideology and “24” points for Republican ideology. I recognize that this is not an exact science but it is a way for me to internalize my positions and determine how I feel America is best served. I can’t really say that I did this exercise formally as I was deciding where I fit. I kinda did if after the fact to see if I was putting my money where my mouth is. Most of us don’t find our political selves in such a formulaic manner. Most of us do, however, perform such an exercise in our heads to determine what is important to us. You are what you are. Your scores may change a little throughout life and even the categories will change as new capabilities threats and problems emerge. Twenty-five years ago stem cell research wasn’t on our list but perhaps the test tube baby was. Twenty-five years ago we weren’t so concerned with the war on terrorism but we were concerned with the Soviet Union and the spread of communism. Nonetheless, I think your team will stay relatively constant throughout your lifetime, or at least your adult life.

There are still some areas where I face inner turmoil in choosing a team. As you can see, I’ve chosen to side with Republicans in America’s political elections, at least for now. I think that this is the quickest way to get us out of the messes we are in today. My struggle really begins when I think about what is best for humanity in the long term. If you look at my assigned importance values you’ll see that the highest ones are stem cell research, defense, separation of church and state and immigration. Defense is very important to me, especially in light of today’s rampant terrorism. I feel as though Republicans have the right answer, short term but not long term. As long as there is religion there will be war. Sure, there are many reasons to fight but religion always seems to be somewhere close to the center of the conflict. In the end I think that humanity could be doomed if we continue to fight over the ghosts in our myths. That said, I still cannot stand behind the anti-war crowd that is today’s Left. We are at war today. There are great ideological differences in the world that are not going away overnight. We have to deal with them for what they are today. Only then can we concern ourselves with the potentially impossible task of eliminating those differences. It is in this more immediate task where the Democrats are incapable of winning. We must first fight terrorism for what is does and then we can fight it and expose it for what it is. Ignoring terrorism for the short term will be a catastrophe for freedom and democracy and will never allow us the chance to expose terrorism as the religious war that it is. Long term, the current Republican Party does us no good by continuing to promote religion, integration of church and state and legislating against valuable scientific endeavors like stem cell research and cloning. I am willing to set aside the quest for long term victory so we can first take the necessary preliminary steps that will enable us to set about on the ultimate quest.

One day the current war on terrorism will be won by the United States. It will be a long and difficult battle against enemies that, while easy to identify, are difficult to isolate. If properly handled, one of the “benefits” of engaging in this war will be to expose Islam and all other religions for the mythical folly that they are. Once that mission is accomplished we can get on to the business of having a democratic, atheistic society, promoting freedom, capitalist participation and democracy throughout the world. We will have room for the party of Frank.