Political Loyalty Paradox-ics, Shmolitical Community Paralytics

Now, let us turn our gaze to the modern obsession with mere political loyalty, a phenomenon as absurd as it is dangerous. In an age where ideologies are weaponized and alliances forged over slogans rather than substance, we find ourselves trapped in a cycle of serial loyalties. These are false loyalties only to those who agree with us in the moment amidst the fog and can serve us only in the short-term, purely materially.

People cling to parties not because they believe in their values and principles, but because they are convinced by a chain of arguments. Sometimes they will even appear to mirror certain principles. In actually, changing nothing with their policies, if not making things worse. The original corrupted goal gets lost in translation entirely somewhere along the way.

The obsession with politics blinds us to the greater truths that lie beyond the confines of partisan divides. When we reduce our lives to a binary position against anyone, especially toward those genuinely more tied to us, we lose on the greater propositions: the shaping of culture and strengthening of community. We can build organisations that transcend temporal whims, instead. This is the whole point for all the theatre in actuality, to keep us from organising most effectively.

Let me be clear: I do not dismiss politics entirely. It has its role to provide some platforms through which discourse can occur and channel collective energy toward common goals, but none of this is happening because the collective energy is dispersed into a billion efforts, half of them against our nations. Let us never confuse the tool with the task, though. A hammer is useful yet it cannot do what a nail does, and it is no substitute for a carpenter’s skill.

The true measure of progress is not in who holds power but in how that power is used. A nation may be ruled by an autocrat or a democrat, but if its people are divided, if its culture is decaying, and if its institutions are hollow, then all is lost in either case. So it is in that in either case, the culture and society come first. The politics of the moment will fade, but the underlying power of community, culture, and organisation will endure through all change.