My Personality and Political Types

Historians and others have noticed the link between personality types and political tendencies.

Some people are natural followers.  Others are natural leaders.  Some are born rebels.  And others may simply enjoy “taking a walk” without anyone following them.  More than one of these descriptions may apply to the same person.

My personality includes a rebellious streak.  I will never join a religious cult or a cult of personality.  I have unlimited disdain for authoritarian figures, those with those tendencies, and those who enable them.  I enjoy poking my proverbial fingers into the equally proverbial eyes of authority figures.  Yet I also strive to keep a balance, for one must follow the chain of command sometimes.  Knowing when to obey and when to tell authority figures to fly a kite is a mark of wisdom.  When I follow my own interests, I find that I am frequently a natural contrarian.  If I am simply “doing my own thing” or “taking a walk” without anyone following me, so be it.  And I am a citizen of a nation-state born in a rebellion against the British Empire.  As such, I am a natural anti-imperialist.

I also oppose theocracy consistently.

All politicians and political parties at all times and places should be small-D democratic and stand firmly within objective reality.  Those who are not disqualify themselves morally.  I can engage politically and positively with those who disagree with me regarding policies and affirm representative government but not with those who oppose representative government.

I also understand that creating and maintaining the common good requires balancing individual and collective rights and responsibilities.  Mutuality defines the common good.  Mutuality teaches that we all belong to and depend upon each other.  I cannot be my best self if the system prevents you from being your best self, for example.  I cannot be as healthy as I should be within a sick community.  Mutuality recognizes that we are accountable to each other and have no right to exploit each other.  Rampant individualism works against the common good, just as mutuality forbids trampling individuals.  This is a Biblical vision consistent with the Law of Moses and the ethics of the New Testament.

Simply put, my rights stop at the edge of your nose, just as your rights stop at the edge of my nose.  I have no absolute right to do whatever I want to do, for my actions affect others.

I also understand that gray areas exist, that not everything is black or white.  For example, as much as I detest abortion in most circumstances, I also understand that anti-abortion laws frequently have negative effects upon women’s health care.  Anti-abortion ideologues may not want to acknowledge this fact, but journalists have documented these consequences.  I also recall that, in Georgia years ago, one anti-abortion law had the unintended consequence of interfering with doctors’ malpractice insurance.  The legislator who sponsored that bill doubled down instead of apologizing and working to correct that issue.  Governance without principles is nihilistic, but governance that disregards the reality on the ground is bad, too.

Left, right, or center (whatever those terms mean in any given circumstance), my political bias takes the reality on the ground into consideration.  A good idea taken too far becomes a bad idea.  And some ideas are always bad.  Tactics matter; how one seeks to make a good idea reality is crucial.  People may go about it in a productive or a counter-productive manner.  And laws may be necessary and proper sometimes and not others.

I stand in the middle, I suppose.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 3, 2024 COMMON ERA