My Political Labels

To start, I despise how political labels are used in society currently. Often political labels are casually thrown around and become political buzzwords. They are used as empty insults to divide and dismiss others in conversation. As I discussed in the Voter Directed Democracy book, a political word or phrase becomes a “buzzword” when it is so often overused or misused that it no longer has a clear, singular, and objective meaning. Political buzzwords then tend to mean vastly different things to different people even when they friends, family members, and other typically like-minded groups. Common political buzzwords in the US that are divisively and erroneously used that I try to avoid completely include: Liberal/Conservative, Left/Right, and Democrat/Republican.

To be successful, any type of human communication should convey an objective meaning to every human that receives the communication. But so often when political labels are used in the current political discourse there is no objective and clear meaning being conveyed. This is why, overall, it is much better to engage in political discourse by completing avoiding political labels and any terminology that is even vaguely a buzzword. Political communication and discussion is much better and much more useful to everyone when we approach political discourse using the language of values, virtues, and principles OR approaching the conversation and interaction with specific ideas, perspectives, and philosophies. It is so easy for any conversation or interaction about any social, political, or economic issue to devolve into hostility, frustration, and miscommunication when the phrases and terminology we use lacks precision, specificity, and objectivity.

Ultimately I prefer talking politics with ideologies, thoughts, ideas, values, virtues, belief systems, and philosophies and very specific opinions on every single issue. Clarity, precision, and specificity on everything. But that’s just not how humans tend to communicate especially in relation to social, political, and economic issues. I wish this was different. I wish we always had the capacity for long discussion, openness, honesty, empathetic listening, and collaboration but we’re just not there yet.

The only way to objectively avoid the misinterpretation of a political label or political phrase and prevent it from becoming a buzzword is to provide a very clear definition for the term. This is why glossaries and definitions are so important in political philosophy and legal proceedings. Thus in this essay I will attempt to be as clear and precise as possible with my definitions. Political labels, when clearly defined, can also be helpful in providing a unified understanding for readers and a way to categorize things.    

The first political label that I identify with is Independent. This is the easy one and comprehensively explained in the Voter Directed Democracy book. I consider myself not associated with any political party. The political philosophy of Voter Directed Democracy is anti-political party because it is relentlessly anti-authoritarian in all ways and is thus VDD is also relentless pro-voter, pro-democracy, pro-democratic republic, and pro-Will-of-the-People at all levels of government for every single issue. In other words, Voter Directed Democracy and all voter directed voters are literally independent from the immense flaws, brokenness, corruption, and increasingly authoritarian dynamics of political parties and party-driven democracy.

The last two labels that I identify with are Progressive Libertarian. I am a Libertarian in relation to how I believe democratic republic governing mentalities (governments) should operate and I am relentlessly pro-individual freedom, pro-liberty, and pro-justice for all. l also have many Progressive personal values. Libertarian is my noun, Progressive is my adjective.  

Unfortunately, however, I find that many people who also identify as Libertarian or Progressive fail to apply their philosophy accurately and consistently. So many people articulate an idea, stance, perspective, or policy and identify themselves as a “Libertarian” or “Progressive” and after they finish explaining themselves verbally or in writing the only thing I want to tell them is what they just explained is NOT Libertarian or Progressive, respectively. Their ideas and policies are inconsistent with their identified political labels. Most humans mean well. The vast majority of humans are compassion driven, caring, empathetic, kind, and helpful. But many struggle to remain logically consistent given how diverse and complicated public policy (at any level of government) can be. 

Please let me explain. 

First, you must understand my labels in the context of being in and believing in the immense superiority democracy. I wrote a whole book about this. I am endlessly and relentlessly pro-democracy, pro-voter, pro-democratic republic and anti-authoritarian on everything related to political philosophy and the functioning of government.

So if you are personally anti-democracy and pro-authoritarian to any extent just stop reading now. You won’t get it. You won’t understand what it means to me to be a Progressive Libertarian in this context if you stand against democracy and democratic republics. You are not ready for this level of discussion if you have allowed yourself to be so manipulated and misinformed.

In fact, if you lean so far right that you have fallen off the amazing and gigantic Plateau of Democracy into the Abyss of Authoritarianism and you find yourself thinking insane things like “monarchy probably wasn’t that bad” or “plutocracy can help a lot of people” or “oligarchy makes sense and is fair” kindly GTFO. Just go. 

Same thing goes for people who lean too far left. If you lean too far left and fall off the amazing and gigantic Plateau of Democracy into the Abyss of Authoritarianism in the other direction and believe that communism is a good idea- also, kindly GTFO. 

All of you authoritarians that are pro-monarchy, pro-oligarchy, and pro-communism can have the Pacific Garbage Patch as your country. You all live there and can live out your authoritarian fantasies. You’re also always welcome back to the US whenever you’re ready to be a sane adult and build modern, evolved, online, honest, and transparent Voter Directed democratic republics at all levels of government. All voters are always welcome on Voter Directed Network. 

I mean technically authoritarian American citizens do have a right to exist and even promote their oppressive and garbage ideas because of the First Amendment and our Freedom of Speech laws in the US. But you can’t really act on them.

Acting in any real way against the US Constitution in favor of implementing authoritarian rule is literally the dumbest thing any human can do. You won’t last long acting in direct opposition to all three branches of US government, the entire US military, many government officials, and all others that take an oath to protect and defend the US Constitution. Acting in such a way is an act of insanity. It’s honestly a great way to end up dead or in prison. 

But sure, you’re allowed to hang on to your authoritarian and oppressive beliefs. I’m sure they make you a wonderful, generous, and kind dinner guest as well. 

Anyway, I digress. Back to the main topic of my political labels. As long as you’re generally pro-democracy and pro-democratic republic you will understand what I mean when I explain what it means to me to identify as a Progressive Libertarian.

Let’s start with my Libertarian sides. Being a pro-democractic republic Libertarian means that I am all about individual freedom, personal liberty, and justice for all. 

Freedom. Liberty. Justice. Freedom for all individuals to live as we choose. Liberty for individuals to build the life that is right for each of us. Justice restored to anyone when acts of evil befall us. 

These are the backbones of being a Libertarian. These sentiments are amazing and give Libertarian-leaning, right-leaning Americans a philosophy that is beyond iron-strong. It’s a diamond-strong philosophy. It is very hard to argue against individual freedom, personal liberty, and justice when applied accurately and consistently in the context of a democratic republic. 

Now, to best explain how I believe Libertarian-leaning, right-leaning humans in the US most often fail to accurately and consistently apply their philosophy, please imagine that I’m at a bar. I live in Wisconsin, we have many. This type of interaction has literally happened to me several times. I sit down next to a complete stranger but another Libertarian. We get to talking. The energy is cheerful and positive and conversation flows easily between us. We are bonding over our mutual love for individual freedom, personal liberty, and justice.

I have never been shy about asking hard questions and I also want to check if this stranger and I truly share the same understanding of Libertarianism in theory AND practice so I ask, “Okay, we believe in a government that promotes individual freedom, personal liberty, and justice for… who? For…?”

Now some Libertarian-leaning, right-leaning people are explicit about their answers to questions like this. Others actively hide their real opinion. Others still just have never thought about how far they actually extend their beleifs. But let’s pretend this stranger is explicit and honest about their philosophies and biases.

The stranger responds, “Freedom, liberty, and justice for me and my family and friends!”

Nope. No. That’s your ego. Right-leaning Americans are too often crippled by their ego. Those who declare themselves right-leaning and/or Libertarians fail to accurately and consistently practice their philosophy because of their ego and who they include in their ideas of individual freedom, personal liberty, and justice for ALL. You have to include everyone. All citizens and all voters.   

So what does individual freedom, personal liberty, and justice for ALL look like in practice? How do we practice true Libertarian philosophy? 

It is based on the simple but profound understanding that my rights, freedoms, liberties, and justice END where yours BEGIN. And vice-versa. If any of my decisions and actions infringe on any other individual’s pursuit of freedom, liberty, and justice they are not consistent with true Libertarian philosophy.

Other Libertarians that understand this limitation and true application of this philosophy are some of my favorite human beings. We’re quick friends. If I find another true Libertarian and someone that fully understands and is willing to practice the idea of “individual freedom, personal liberty, and justice for all AND mine ends where yours begins” they are always invited to the cookout and I often trust them implicitly. True libertarians make great friends, wonderful neighbors, and trustworthy public servants. Right-leaning, Libertarian-leaning Americans will almost always have the upper hand philosophically as long as they are not crippled by their ego and extend the philosophy of individual freedom, personal liberty, and justice to ALL.

Left-leaning Progressives are a bit different. Again, this is me. This is my other side and another philosophical perspective I believe in. I identify as someone with many Progressive values. Here’s the thing about left- leaning, Progressives: we are obsessed with the oppression, pain, and suffering of others. Literally obsessed. That’s our whole thing.

All progressives have their list of groups or things we know to be suffering greatly and systemically oppressed and we are driven to eradicate injustice and evil from the world. Progressive theory is great. It’s empowering. It’s loving and positive. It’s also very justice oriented. It’s amazing that Progressives are so driven by their empathy, care, and compassion for others. 

My list or Progressive Agenda starts with the immense suffering and oppression of our children in our country. Childhood homelessness?! Childhood poverty?! Lack of access to quality nutrition, healthcare, and education for our CHILDREN?!?! It’s insanity. It’s beyond inhumane and the worst decisions our corrupt, evil, and party-driven governments make allow our children in this country to needlessly suffer like they do. Children have no social, political, or economic power. They are literally dependent and powerless and this is how our federal and state systems allow them suffer? It’s barbaric and leads to innumerable social and economic problems as our children age.

The second thing on my Progressive Agenda that I find to be horrific and terrible is the suffering and oppression of voters. We suffer like this even though our US Constitution and state constitutions give us a democratic republic?! This is what our soldiers fight and die to protect- a country so broken and divided by immensely corrupt political parties and party-driven ideology?! A party-driven system that is increasingly authoritarian and moving further and further away from the real Will of the People on nearly every issue decade after decade?? It’s madness and shouldn’t be like this. 

Those are my top two. I am also deeply heartbroken and frustrated by the suffering and oppression in this country of women, our environment, sexual and gender minorities, the poor, and MANY different racial, ethnic, and religious groups. It’s all terrible. It’s all unjustified. It’s all perpetuated and made infinitely worse by the hatred, negativity, mental violence, corruption, greed, and divisiveness of party-driven political systems. There is so much we can and will do to make our country a better place for so many people once we give voters our constitutionally-granted political power by having voters choose to modernize and evolve our democratic republics into open, honest, and transparent Voter Directed democratic republics. We will do it all. A Voter Directed future is a very Libertarian and Progressive future in which we can and will eradicate a ton of systemic suffering and oppression for many individuals and populations.  

But here’s the thing. The left-leaning, Progressive theory is crippled by actions driven by anger and sadness. No oppressive or evil system or problem has ever been solved or improved upon with anger, sadness, rage, frustration, or apathy. Negativity of any kind is antithetical to Progressive evolution of society.  

You have to do the Progressive Pivot. You can lean into the sadness, negativity and evil of the oppression and suffering to understand it. Any time you learn more or research about any oppressive system you will get upset. Your heart will break. But you cannot act out of negativity about the problems or “red flags.” You must act out of the hope and inspiration of the solution or “green flags”. Let the red flags inform you and give you a spark of energy to be a part of the solution; but then pivot away from EVERYTHING negative and become absolutely obsessed about the positivity, hope, joy, love, care, and evolution of the green flags and systemic solutions to oppression.     

There hasn’t been a single successful progressive social, political, or economic movement in the US that was successful because of how justifiably angry and sad they were about the systemic oppression they were organizing against. 

In fact, quite the opposite is true. Let’s look at some examples. Some of my favorite Progressive movements to study, understand, and learn from in US history were Abolition, Civil Rights, Women’s Suffrage, and Marriage Equality. All of these wonderful, Progressive ideas were objectively successful because they created a vision for a better, stronger, more just, more free, and more inclusive society. 

None of the great leaders and supporters of any of those four movements were violently or angrily fighting anything when they found success. No, their success was through positivity. Our Progressive leaders, activists, and supporters of the past found success through organizing, protesting, educating, teaching, mentoring, helping, caring, loving, preaching, empathizing, and evolving belief systems.

You have to pivot away from the anger, sadness, hatred, frustration, and violence. You have to pivot away from even the idea of anything negative and fighting. You have to pivot towards the light. Pivot towards the hope. You have to pivot towards the excitement, love, and joy of the solution. 

I still struggle sometimes with how angry I get at how much suffering is just tolerated. But what helped me the most was fully accepting this one quote: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”- Martin Luther King Jr. 

After fully accepting this quote I finally understood what was happening with my anger and frustration at the suffering and oppression in the world.

I realized that I felt and I still hear so many progressives say “it feels good to get angry” about these things. But it doesn’t. You’ve tricked yourself. Nothing about any type or intensity of rage, anger, frustration, sadness, or apathy is positive.

When I chose these emotions in relation to the suffering and oppression of others I was HARMONIZING with the evil. I was lowering my frequency, vibration, consciousness, soul energy in a distorted and misinformed way of showing the world that I can be just as angry as the suffering and oppression of children is evil. It tricked me into believing I was somehow fighting back against the evil, oppression, and suffering.

But I wasn’t. That’s just not how it works. Objectively I was lowering my vibration and energy. Objectively I was also depriving those around me of experiencing me at positive levels of consciousness. And very objectively, I wasn’t doing anything to actually solve the problems and suffering I was so mad about. All of my energy was spent learning about the suffering and getting angry and sad about it 

To be successful and philosophically accurate and consistent, Progressives must be the light in the darkness. The love in the face of hate. The courage in the room full of fear. The compassion in response to the violence. The inclusivity in reaction to greed.

Yes we can lean into the suffering. We must understand the problem. We can even take a step towards the problem. For just a moment we can feel the energy that comes from anger or sadness. But then as soon as we understand any problem and feel energized to act we must do the Progressive Pivot to the positive. We must become solution and positivity obsessed. It is the only way we have ever made anything better. Through positive thoughts, positive emotions, and positive actions is how Progressives win. 

To be a successful Progressive, do not ever tolerate being sad, angry, or apathetic about anything for more than a moment. Progressives have never found success in the negative. Be obsessed about the solution. Put all of your energy and compassionate strength towards the solution. Keep your consciousness and spirit as elevated and positive as you can.  

So that’s me. I hope this essay has explained what it means to me to practice and live life as an Independent Progressive Libertarian.