Reply #353: Here comes the pack, lol.

[LWolf]

I've recently been pondering human nature. Pack/herd instinct. I can be at least somewhat objective because, due to an unusual family circumstance and life, I don't belong to any greater pack. I really am a "lone wolf."

I've seen that people are pack/herd animals to the core. That, no matter their belief system, politics, etc., they feel the need to belong to a group. Group identity trumps everything else in the end.

Group identity can come from nationality, faith, ethnicity, profession, politics, social class, culture, and I'm sure much more. What I notice about that identity, coming from someone who does not identify with any group other than the 4 other humans that make up my whole nuclear and extended family, is that group identity trumps all. It trumps truth, honesty, integrity, and common sense. A group will be willing to go along with an idea or a person or a group that seems to have an affinity, until that idea, person, or group threatens the group identity.

The Democratic Party is just such a group. It comes complete with loyalty oaths, group-think, and rationalization of words, actions, votes, etc. that directly conflict with supposed ideals.

It no longer surprises me that party loyalty is more important than the supposed ideals that the party is supposed to represent. I am a registered Democrat, but I've never put party before principle.

Just like any other political party, I will never take anything any Democrat says at face value. I will always be looking for the spin, the rhetoric, the talking points, the manipulation. Living, breathing, evolving evidence that Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

No wonder I'm a lone wolf. While I celebrate what I consider to be the best of my species' qualities, I cannot reconcile myself to the worst.

I will not put party before principles. I am glad that there are those like Cindy Sheehan, from all groups, willing to stand on principle.

The only point, in my lone opinion, of a "group" is to nurture and defend principles.