The political switch test never fails…
"Last night, Graham Plattner ended his campaign, and guys, we need to talk about this. Not because he dropped out, but because a guy who had a Nazi tattoo, worked for Blackwater doing sketchy things, and had tons of inflammatory comments online, not only won a Democratic primary, but the endorsement of the National Party and prominent Dems. Just for a second, imagine if the parties were reversed. If a Republican had this record, Dems would be, rightly, screaming at them to drop out. And look, this is a both sides problem, Republicans have also stood behind candidates that had sketchy records too. But why in this case did Dems rally nationally behind them and online progressives start saying vote blue no matter who? One word, tribalism. Tribalism is what happens when your political identity becomes more important than your principles. When someone's on your team, things that would disqualify an opponent just become out of context or, oh, that's not important. Psychologists have studied this for decades. People naturally defend the groups they identify with, even when it means ignoring things they would easily recognize if the roles were reversed. And that's quickly becoming one of America's biggest problems. Most people say they want principled politics and to put country over party, but it's hard to do that when your own side's on trial. But you can help short circuit tribalism. The next time you find yourself compelled to defend a politician, ask yourself this one question, would I still make the same argument if this person had a different letter next to their name?"
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The political switch test never fails…
