Treading Lightly on Politically Charged Topics in a Highly Politicized Society

 I decided to post the "think piece" shown below this note in response to a friend's cautionary note to me about the risks of becoming too political in writing this blog. I sent a draft to several friends for their comments, and the responses were so instantaneous and passionate it made sense to interrupt posting the Pandemic Series of eight essays about life during the pandemic to accommodate posting this piece on being apolitical in a political world.   If you don't care to provide a comment publicly feel free to email me directly at mriedy@sandiego.edu.  My next essay in the Pandemic series will be on "a trillion here, a trillion there, it all adds up to trouble", to be published within a few days.

Treading Lightly on Politically Charged Topics in a Highly Politicized Society

 I realize even though I am trying to remain apolitical in writing about trillion dollar Government rescue packages, Federal budget deficits, the coronavirus pandemic and interest rate trends, every reader is going to read what I say not through rose-colored glasses but rather political prisms.  Nowadays, in the best of times it is difficult to be seen as not leaning toward one political party or persuasion or another. And it is almost impossible to avoid being perceived as” playing politics” at a time when the Presidential election had such unprecedented electricity, both before and after the election. For example, how do I avoid playing politics when I point out that very few politicians (of either party) are willing to face up to this issue: Who is going to pay for the recent  trillion dollar rescue packages, and when? Of course, when we are thinking about piling trillions of dollars into the Federal Government's liabilities, who is going to pay for them, and what their effects will be, we should  include the $1.5 trillion tax cuts of 2017.

To be candid about my political background, I grew up in Dupage County, Illinois, whose voters were virtually all registered Republicans, my parents and I included.  Over my career, at various times, I have been a registered Republican, a registered Democrat, and for several years, long ago, a registered Independent. Today, for the second period in my life, I am a registered independent.  On some issues my views are consistent with those of the Democratic party and on others I side with Republicans.

There are at least two good reasons why I am trying to remain apolitical in all these essays.  First, I have yet to see any person change his or her mind about a political issue in response to a friend or acquaintance or public speaker being persuasive, so I never consciously waste my breath trying to change anyone else’s mind. Second, candidly, I am dismayed that Political Considerations (PC, but not the same as the PC meaning Political Correctness) have permeated so much of everyday life.  No matter the topic, all too often the subject has been politicized and must be set off to the side (unless you know the other person is on the same side of the issue as you are). Some of what I see happening in society is that taking the party line—it applies to all parties--seems to be becoming the default position of millions of adults rather than having to do the hard work of independent and critical thinking on the major issues of the day. To me, that seems like a slippery slope and on a long-term basis, if not arrested, poses a genuine threat to our democracy.

 Espousing the party line by default reminds me of a meeting I held about 30 years ago with several real estate industry leaders when I first arrived at the University of San Diego and invited the group to help me figure out what to teach.  After lengthy discussion one individual stood up and said something to the effect that no matter how much we taught the students about real estate, the much harder challenge would be to teach them how to think.  As always, I invite you to provide feedback on my thoughts as well as other subjects about which you feel strongly.