Another month, another column, but this time with so much occurring that my head is still spinning! To those who take the time to read these pieces, even when you vehemently disagree with every word, thank you. Challenging thought and ideology are essential to a robust democracy, particularly as ours appears to tilt between complete collapse and miraculous rebuilding on a daily basis.
To those who write response articles, I want you to know that I do read them and give them genuine consideration. While some responses clearly come from people who skimmed the column and jumped straight to outrage, providing me with some much-needed laughs, I appreciate the engagement nonetheless.
However, for those suddenly calling for “unity” while being the same individuals who show up to board meetings and council sessions spewing hateful rhetoric, spare me your crocodile tears.
Unity isn’t a convenient talking point to deploy when your preferred candidates win; it’s a commitment to civil discourse even when the stakes are high and emotions run hot.
Speaking of spinning, this month’s news cycle has been particularly exhausting. We have the Epstein files! Just kidding, we don’t. Wait, no, we do, and Donald Trump isn’t on them. Actually, hold on … he is? Now let’s arrest Barack Obama instead! The speed at which narratives shift and reshape themselves would be impressive if it weren’t so obviously calculated to overwhelm our collective ability to process information.
Despite the chaos, I genuinely believe in calls for unity, though this might sound surprising coming from someone often labeled a partisan hack. Here’s something that might shock readers: I’m actually the only Democrat in my entire family. I know what you’re thinking — clearly, one good one managed to escape the nest!
Throughout my political journey, I’ve interned for a Republican congressman and have sat down with many during campaign seasons to understand different viewpoints. My degrees from College of the Canyons in psychology for transfer and liberal arts in social and behavioral sciences actually fuel my curiosity about diverse perspectives, rather than making me more rigid in my thinking. Education taught me to dig deeper into what motivates people’s beliefs and behaviors.
I truly believe we all want fundamentally similar things; clean air, clean water, quality education, safe communities, and opportunities for economic growth. We simply disagree on methods for achieving these goals. Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, independents — we probably agree on roughly 80% of issues when stripped of partisanship. This is why I’ve never (to my memory) personally attacked someone for their party affiliation, though I certainly critique the parties themselves.
I’ve repeatedly stated that both major parties have serious flaws, but I maintain that the Republican Party has become far worse in recent years. Some call this “leaning Democrat.” Well duh, I’m writing in The Signal’s “Democratic Voices” and am the former chair of our community’s Dem party. But acknowledging my bias doesn’t invalidate legitimate criticism.
Our entire political system, regardless of party, has lost its way. We’ve shifted from grassroots movements where citizens’ voices shaped party platforms to top-down corporations and wealthy elites telling us what to believe. Even as chair and founder of our local Dem group, I’ve fought my own side to ensure we represent what matters most: our community’s actual values and needs rather than whatever talking points arrive from the top.
However, there’s one critical distinction that prevents me from embracing false equivalencies.
One side has actively worked to strip rights from vulnerable populations, reduce access to critical health services, and celebrates human suffering. When local groups like Moms for Liberty, who cloak themselves as caring parents, post celebratory messages about families being deported to dangerous conditions, I have to ask: When you claim you’d do anything for your children, why does that protection only extend to your own? Is the pursuit of a better life only permitted for those born on the “correct” side of the border?
This selective empathy reveals the fundamental difference between policy disagreements and moral failures. I can respect someone who opposes my preference in tax policy or questions my budget priorities. I cannot respect those who celebrate children being separated from their families or cheer when vulnerable people are denied medical care.
Democracy requires good-faith disagreement between people who share basic human decency. It cannot survive when one side abandons that decency entirely to align with their leader while demanding others meet them halfway in the moral void they’ve created.
So thank you for being readers, whether you agree, disagree, despise, or love what I write.
Challenging our political system is something I cherish about this nation, and I plan to keep doing it while I still have that right. Because in times like these, silence isn’t neutrality, it’s submission.
The question isn’t whether we can find unity, but whether we’re willing to demand that unity be built on shared principles of human dignity rather than convenient political expediency. Real unity requires real accountability, not just pretty words about coming together while ignoring the forces actively tearing us apart.
Andrew Taban is a former legislative staffer. “Democratic Voices” appears Tuesdays and rotates among several local Democrats.
