I think it's possible, in principle, to be near-maximally cynical about current US politics and also be clear-eyed about preferring Democrats to Republicans in almost all cases In practice, I'm unsure how common or achievable this is
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Question: is it okay to publicly state a Democrat > Republican preference, or does doing so inevitably form social and identity affiliations that degrade one's epistemic hygiene?
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I tend to interpret some grey tribe members' refusal to engage publicly in practical politics—despite an obvious Dem > Rep preference—as essentially an excessive form of social performance; an overcorrection w.r.t. fears about politics mindkill due to grey tribe social incentives
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But another possibility is that the cultivation of a strict anti-politics persona isn't an overcorrection at all or rather it could be a rational overcorrection given uncertainty over how susceptible one is to politics mindkill
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If you don't think you're able to publicly voice your support for Democrats without succumbing to mindkill (tribal epistemology, motivated reasoning, etc), then it can make sense to set up clear commitment devices
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Nonvoting and training yourself to instinctively voice opposition to Democrats (and Republicans) in conversation are both ways of forcing yourself to wall-off the slippery-slope psychology of politics and belief cronyism
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Extreme political cynicism is protective, and probably should be the default stance for most of us
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Everyone likes to think they support candidates and parties only to the extent that they advance underlying policy goals, but holding to this ideal is extremely difficult
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It's probably better to support *policies only*, perhaps testing yourself periodically by affiliating with candidates—yet being hyper-vigilant for epistemic pitfalls and ready to snap back into cynicism at a moment's notice [end]
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Replying to @willmuessig
it's often social saying publicly "I support Democrats" gets you tagged (i) as a team member and (ii) leads to your stated ingroup absolutely savaging you any time you deviate from the party line better to keep your cards close
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also I legitimately have no consistent preferences over democrats and republicans tbqh my best hope is for perpetually-divided government so few of their policies pass
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