Those of us in the politically moderate sphere are throwing up our hands and asking,”Where did civility go?”

The freedoms we cherish are unwittingly being used against us in the uncivil political climate of today. A strong allegiance to Party platforms is like the religiosity that gave rise to atheism. Those of us in the politically moderate sphere are throwing up our hands and asking,”Where did civility go?” Media pundits may enjoy their extremist version of facts, but by removing a balanced analysis weighed against historical context , those of us who want to find truths that complete the facts wind up turning our attention instead to what matters more in our lives like family, friends, work and community and possibly rejecting politics altogether like an Athiest to religious dogma.

As news media and educational curricula conform to revisionist trends of tribal loyalty, “United We Stand” will not be about “one nation under all”.  Today’s political Parties are not like our major religions and should never be committed to with the same fervor.  Government enforced ideologies such as sanctuary for illegal immigrants or marriage only between a man and a woman compete with our God given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness because government systems try to control people and are not responsible for lifting the heart and mind as religious doctrine does.  The best that a secular governing system can do with regards to morality is to promote civility to one another when attempting to communicate opposing ideas toward favorable results.  It is our individual actions of good will that allow for a deeper understanding of our differences to arrive at a level of fairness within a governance system.

For example, why does the government need to be involved with the act of marriage at all?  We can agree that marriage has certain legal benefits and we can agree that these legal benefits are based upon laws derived by the state.  But what about the separation of church and state?  If we consider that performing and partaking in a marriage ceremony is a religious act then we must give this act relevance to religion and not to the state…this then removes the mandate for a city employee with a conflicting religious principle to sign a document granting the “marriage” certificate to a same sex couple.  Instead, couldn’t these legal rights that are state recognized currently by a marriage be issued in a state approved “certificate of union” no matter the two sexes?  The ceremony is then performed only by a religious or ceremonial entity that “believes” in the couple’s God given right of marriage in accordance with the specific religious doctrine.  We might be surprised to find that more people will belong to a church because of this change, and hearts and minds will be strengthened when the various churches are given back their relevance.

I am not affiliated with any political party and do my best to vote my conscience  by educating myself on the issues of the day.  I cannot declare myself a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Independent or Democrat Socialist.  I let the die  hard  Party affiliates  hash out  their  candidates of choice because, as a moderate, civil discourse and  reasoned, educated arguments factor into my vote.  Could  there be a Moderate Party?  Perhaps one  day, but  as of now we moderates hold the cards and  we  are not bluffing like the stronghold  Party affiliates  😉