You Don’t Get A Participation Award

America today is the land of the participation award. Or so many Americans think.

Love Trump/Bernie/Warren/Biden? Hate one or all? Hooray for you. Donate $5 to a campaign? Yeah, that’ll show those corporations. Wear a pink pussy hat on a march that has no defining issue? Great. Vote based on gender? Yeah, that’s what we need. Posting disparaging memes 80 times a day? Yeah, that’s politically educational and informative. Not to mention so unifying!

I’ve said many times and repeat it here that all names are cults. Of course, most people want to be in cults of some kind. It’s not a matter of supporting policies or issues. It’s a matter of branding, nothing more. What do you call yourself? Democrat? Republican? Liberal? Tea Partier?

The one place I do draw a distinction is with the majority of Progressives. Progressives are the most informed voters and citizens. The whole point of being a real Progressive is paying attention to policies. Of course, some people call themselves Progressive yet are willing to ignore specific issues, no matter the danger but think they deserve the Progressive label. In favor of universal healthcare, so call yourself a Progressive? Yeah, let’s not talk about the risk of war with Russia. Hint: Many Republican voters support universal healthcare. Participation award denied.

Look, in 2016 most of us made it clear we wanted changes in our political landscape. That was the whole point of Bernie, Jill, Johnson and even Trump. We are still pushing for…