The Perils of Partisanship, or Another Entry to Bore Tina

Lately I'm thinking of giving up on political labels altogether. My family calls me a Democrat (which is pretty much a put-down to them). I don't mind being in the minority, or even watching the Washington Democrats flail around helplessly. But I do mind the fact that having any label at all clouds my judgment, and the same goes for everyone else. As soon as you call yourself a Democrat, you're at odds with Republicans. Your ego gets involved. The same goes for any label. Call yourself a liberal, and automatically you oppose the conservatives around you. When you take any stand, you have instant enemies.

Then it's not so much the social tension that's a problem (although it's not fun when everyone disagrees with you). But it also interferes when you're trying to figure out the facts. You have blinders on. You minimize your side's mistakes and exaggerate the other side's. That's just human nature, protecting yourself and whatever you have a stake in, emotionally and socially.

So I'd rather be a neutral, impartial truth-seeker on everything from politics to religion to family arguments, etc.

But that seems wimpy somehow. I don't know. I'm ambivalent about labels. I'm even ambivalent about the label "ambivalent"! Come to think of it, I'm not sure I want to call myself Caucasian or female. Yeah! I'm a human being and it stops there! And what's all this about my being a 29-year-old? I transcend time! It's beneath me! I'm a metaphysical being with no color, gender, age, nationality, political affiliation, religion, sexual orientation, social class or hand dominance! There, that settles the label question once and for all.