Partisanship

Although I belong to a political party, I'm not a fan of energetic partisanship as it plays out in our country's politics. It reminds me too much of a "We're #1!" high school sports enthusiasm. If it were just that it seemed juvenile, I wouldn't mind so much. However, because someone in our own political party is often perceived to be "our kind of guy/girl", we tend to overlook their faults because of shared party membership and loyalty. For instance, Republicans who opposed the war in Iraq personally, but kept their disapproval quiet because of loyalty to George W. Bush. Or, for a current example, Democrats who want Obama's pick, Sotomayor, approved as a Supreme Court Justice when she's either unwilling or unable to articulate how she would determine what is a fundamental constitutional right.