What Happens If We Characterize Ourselves By Our Political Party? | It’s A Question Of Balance 30 January 2016

Broadcast on 30 January 2016 on KSCO AM 1080, KSCO 104.1 FM, KOMY AM 1340, and KSCO.com Live Stream.

It's A Question Of Balance radio show balances the intellectual with the creative, exploring whether we have more in common than divides us through thought-provoking conversations - out and about with people on the street on different topics, and in the studio with inspiring guests from the arts. Balance is not a compromise. Balance is truth distilled from many places creating cohesive understanding. 

Check out podcasts of the different topics and arts guests at www.itsaquestionofbalance.com

Out And About – Conversations with People on the Street about Questions That Matter: What happens if we characterize ourselves by our political party?

This week we consider ‘What happens if we characterize ourselves by our political party?’ If you are talking politics, are you likely to say ‘ I am a Democrat/ Republican/ Libertarian etc?’ In America it is common for people to characterizes themselves politically this way. By contrast, in the UK, for example, people will say ‘I support the Conservative party’ or ‘I vote for Labour’ or ‘the Liberals represent my views’. This may seem a small linguistic difference of expression but one mode of expression embodies our views, we are what we believe - ‘I am a Republican/Democrat’; the other maintains a distance between who we are and what we believe -  ‘I support the Republicans/Democrats’. Could embodying our political beliefs be part of the reason the USA seems so divided? Does it make us feel more different from each other than we actually are? If we are what we believe then any dissent from our position feels very personal, which may affect how we receive and react to information. We may hold a range of views but if we need to self-identify in one political camp or another we may focus on and defend only the views that allow us to stay in that camp. What about Independents and ‘undecideds’? Are they as wishy-washy as they are sometimes portrayed or are they actually more accurately representing the complexity of political views on different topics by not identifying with one party?

What do you think? For more info on the show and to hear past shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com

In Out And About we consider topics with local relevance and global significance. The idea is to get us thinking about the questions that affect us all - to stimulate new thinking, or clarify what we already feel. To hear how other people’s opinions may differ from or be similar to our own.