MAGA Truth & Other Lies

Last week, we, I, explained what control of Congress means and why Donald Trump has been treating the separation of powers like a Big Mac, where he's the bun and there is no burger or special sauce.

Now we understand the prize.

The next question is, who exactly is trying to win it? Because terms like Democrat, Republican, Liberal, Conservative, Progressive, Socialist, Independent, and MAGA are thrown around as though everybody knows what they mean.

Guess what? Most people don't.

And amazingly, neither do some of the politicians using them.

So let's begin with the most important distinction.

A political party is not the same thing as a political ideology.

A party is everybody at a college dorm and three kegs of beer.

Let me update that.

A party is a bunch of coeds at a college dorm and five kegs of beer.

A political party is an organization that tries to elect candidates to control government.

Now, they're supposed to represent you, But in a lot of cases, they represent themselves.

They got there.

They want what they want for them.

And if you want what they want, great.

And if not, too bad.

An ideology is a collection of beliefs about how government and society should work.

You can register as a Democrat without agreeing with every Democrat.

You can vote Republican without agreeing with every Republican.

And you can call yourself an independent and still vote for the same party in every election since they invented the ballot.

Independent may describe your registration.

It does not necessarily mean you don't have an opinion.

It simply means you don't care to align yourself with a political party.

It's like being afraid of commitment in a relationship or deciding you just want to be friends.