On Partisanship

Historically, partisans are the good guys. In WW2, for example, they were the courageous, heroic fighters and saboteurs of Nazis and other evil-doers. But today the term has a new meaning.

In American politics today, a partisan is one who places party (Dem or Repub or, rarely, others) above all else. That "all else" is a mouthful. Partisanship drives lots of people to espouse policies and actions that they otherwise would not. For example, defending the criminals -- convicted criminals -- of J6. Even for violence they'll make an exception... My party right or wrong.

The thinking goes something like this: I come from a Republican (or Democratic) family. I have only ever voted for our guys. Sure, things like racism and tax cuts for the rich are bad, but nothing would be worse than a victory for the other guys. So it's not about right and wrong, truth and justice, or even my own economic self-interest. It's about my "team" winning. At any cost.

The flip side of this attitude (and partisans on both sides are guilty) is that the people on the other side are not decent human beings. I deny their humanity. They are sick and twisted. I won't listen to what they say. The world would be better without them. Both sides do it. The result is deadlock.

How do we escape this death spiral? Especially when our leaders whip us into partisan frenzies? It works for them. But not for us. We must learn to set aside the simplistic us-versus-them posture and focus on content, on desired outcomes and who would get us there. Sometimes it might be a guy from the other side.

-- Dan Keller, 2026  
Illustration by my father, Charles Keller