Moral choices

All married couples have irritants in their relationships, ranging from the small (you never close the cupboard doors) to the major (oh yeah, well you never turn out the lights when you leave the room).  In my marriage, one bone of contention was that I turned every issue into a matter of morality.  Eating veal was immoral, shopping at WalMart was immoral, air conditioning was immoral.  I wasn’t satisfied in simply stating an opinion--I made it into a question of morality, and if the wife didn’t agree with me, she wasn’t just wrong, she was not a moral person.

I’ve eased up on that somewhat.  After all, I’m still married.  Nevertheless, I sometimes can’t help but think in those terms.  

For example, if you are in a party whose leaders would oppose the “Dream Act,” why wouldn’t you quit that party?  If you were a member of a party that wanted to gut the Endangered Species Act, or cut unemployment benefits, or deny poor people health care, or stop women from receiving abortions even if they are pregnant by rape or incest, wouldn’t you quit that party?   A party that denies the existence of global warming, or wants to give tax cuts to the wealthy, or defends torture is not just wrong, it is immoral.  Its members should resign.

Would I resign?  Of course.  I was once a big wheel in the California Democratic Party, chair of the Santa Clara County Democrats, member of the State Executive Board.  When the Party picked a fat-cat developer as its Chair, I resigned and joined the Green Party.  When I moved to Pennsylvania I rejoined the Democrats, but my membership remains provisional.

I don’t suppose many Republicans read this blog, but if you do, I think it is time for you to resign in protest.  If you can’t stomach the Democrats, become a Libertarian, become an Independent, but you really need to take a hard look at what your party is doing to this country.