Partisan political parties are dumb

 

1. They promote their one-size-fits-all doctrine instead of weighing the costs and benefits for each issue separately.
2. They excuse the same behavior as the other party, but somehow it is evil when the other side does it.
3. They justify corruption to win philosophical battles that are often meaningless
1. We can point to successful and failing examples of big and small governments, and so the size of the government can't be the only question that matters.
2. Corruption matters
3. Freedom matter
4. Whoever is in charge must respect the dignity and freedom of those out of power
1. Having a loyal opposition that supports our country and doesn't want to burn the the whole thing down when they don't have as much power as they wish must matter.
5. We need to respect the the legitimacy of the other side when they win.
1. We can't try to burn the whole thing down when we lose.
6. We must avoid authoritarians on both extremes
7. We have to be able to find ways to do two things at once. 
8. We must be able to find ways to reward hard work and not reward those that are evil or lazy while also strengthening our safety net.
1. Insisting on only one is making us stupid because we both want the same thing, and we both need to do it efficiently without too many costs. 
4. Their partisan battles distract us from real problems and obvious solutions
1. We can't make wise decisions when one side doesn't acknowledge any costs of the policy, and the other side won't admit any benefits.
5. Our partisan battles are keeping us from being efficient and effective
1. Our partisan battles cause us to promote incompetent people on our side, that prove their loyalty to our dogma, but do not show any competence at getting things done.

Partisan political parties make us dumb

1. They make us unconsciously biased (confirmation bias).
2. Their one-sided advertising and propaganda causes us to
1. Use a team approach to problem-solving
2. emotionally cheer-lead for our team,
3. think anecdotally, and to
4. use reason to win for our side, not identify the best solution
5. kill the necessary devil's advocate
6. kill lady justice that is shown with a blindfold to remove bias, and a scale to weigh pros AND cons, and costs AND benefits 

 

They promote the spirit of revenge, division, and hero worship
They cause us to fight against those we disagree with, instead of trying to address their concerns.
They cause leaders to win by

1. Loudly defending partisan dogma, instead of quietly making any sense.
2. Being mean and attacking the other side, instead of being great and bringing us together.
3. Ignorantly pretending our solutions will go away if the partisan approach is applied, instead of wisely following data and evidence, and weighing costs and benefits.
4. Showing anger and hatred instead of decency and respect.