Political hardball

Are you a Democrat or a Republican?

It's a common question. Harmless really.

It's like asking someone who their favorite baseball team is.

But it's loaded with conflicts; taxes, environmental issues, war, international relations, gay rights, education, and pretty much everything under the sun…so why do we sum it all up in a one word answer, Democrat or Republican?

Can a person be a Democrat and be opposed to same sex marriage and abortion?

Can a person be a Republican and support same sex marriage and abortion?

To make things simple, let's go back to the baseball analogy.

I'm a fan of the Chicago Cubs. There are players that I love and there are players that make me throw my plate of nachos out the window.

Just like politics, new players are brought into the fold as others leave. Coaches come and go too, but that doesn't matter either because they are still my team.

They occasionally make bad decisions.

They rarely win games.

They never win the World Series.

But none of that matters; they could change all their players and make every mistake in the book, and they would still be my team.

Baseball and politics are a lot a like. Both even have die-hard fans who show up in costume and take their love for their team to the extreme. They are the ones that get the most camera attention when the focus is shifted from the players to the fans.

I don't want my political views to be even remotely similar to my views on baseball. Ideally, I would like to flip it around and have my favorite team be the one that I logically concluded to be the best each year.

Maybe I like the pitcher for the Yankees, the shortstop for the Cardinals and the outfielders for the Brewers.

Maybe I don't trust half the players for the Cubs and suspect they are on steroids.

Maybe I like Obama and don't trust Hilary Clinton.

Maybe I like Ron Paul and don't trust Newt Gingrich.

With baseball, it was easy to decide which team I liked best. The Cubs were close to my hometown and no kid who grew up watching The X-Files could resist loving a team that was cursed because of a goat.

With politics, the decision between Democrat and Republican seems impossible, if not even a little irresponsible as it could lead to straight ticket voting.

My concern is that subscribing to any single political ideology seems to hold the potential to narrow my spectrum of views, filter out possibilities, and funnel me into one group with which I may not completely agree…sort of like how I'm a fan of the Cubs even though I know they are horrible.

It's too bad politics isn't more like fantasy baseball, then we could pick and choose players instead of rooting for just “our team” even when we know it's loaded with terrible players.

Perhaps the onslaught of cheating and just plain bad sportsmanship over the last twenty odd years in the majors is why fantasy baseball is gaining popularity and the majors are stagnant.

Too bad we can't seem to do the same thing with politics.