Party

While reading Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham, I came across this little piece of gold.

I am not a Federalist, because I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degredation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all…

It seems like a good thing to keep in mind when dogmatic partisanship grows more and more prevalent. I hold to my faith very strongly because it is a constant power in my life that I continually choose to strengthen. However, I have found that the faith many people hold to most strongly is a canonized creed of political talking points, where deviation on even a single point is quickly ostracized.

This is a time for finding common ground and working to safeguard the freedom of everyone. If differences of political opinion, even major ones, keep us from coming together, we are much easier to isolate and target by those who hold no regard for the fundamental Constitutional rights of others.