What’s a “Pigot” and are you one?

              We all agree that it’s bad to be prejudiced. We should judge people by the content of their character, not race, religion, ethnicity—any collective identity instead of their individual strengths and values. To simply shun a person for membership in a collective, we call “bigotry” and it’s a bad thing. Racial bigotry, sexual, class, geographical, you name it: bigotry is bad.

              What about politics? Is it ok to hate all Democrats or all Republicans, simply because they’re Dems or Rs? If you answer yes, you’re a Political Bigot—or Pigot.

              You wouldn’t be alone. A recent American Psychiatric Association survey found 20% of respondents had cut ties with a family member because of political arguments.  In 2020 the Cato Institute found 62% of Americans afraid to share their political opinions, and it sure doesn’t seem to have gotten any better. Pigotry affects both sides of the aisle, with Ds and Rs shunning and reviling the unenlightened—or even insufficiently hard core.

              If you’re sure you’re right and the other guy is evil, this may seem good. But there’s a high price to pay for the silence. If all views aren’t being heard, the debate gets one-sided and stupid. Bad ideas aren’t tested and debated and altered to respond to criticism. The loss of one side of the spectrum makes the other side more extremist: instead of a spectrum of 1 to 10, its 5 to 10 and gets more and more driven to 10. One partry states don’t tend toward moderation. And the folks who feel silenced don’t give up their opinions: silence is not agreement. The opposition builds and comes out in unexpected ways.

              One way is violence. We’re getting a lot of that right now.

              Another is the American Constitutional Republic. Our  form of government is based in free and unhindered debate. Remember the phrase “I disagree with what you said but I’ll defend your right to say it?” That means the other guy will defend you, as well. Our form of government isn’t based on one-party states, but a flow where one side can’t succeed without some cooperation of the other. A healthy legislature has members at least talking and making friendships across the aisle: not disciplined robots. Good ideas can be worked into acceptable legislation and bad ones canned.

              I was recently at a dinner honoring long time State Senator George McManus. While a fierce proponent of his values and his party, he was universally celebrated as a guy who could sit down and have many friendships from the Other Side. He had an uncanny ability to reach across the aisle. Everyone praised this quality, which was valued beyond price, and made the legislature a better and more effective institution.

That’s the opposite of the Pigot, and we need less Political Bigotry or Pigotry today. I would class Pigotry along with other forms of prejudice we reject, same as someone who hates Black people or Jews or Muslims or Catholics. Let’s try and reject Pigotry once and for all. If you’re the political bigot, doing the shunning and exclusion, you might just me one of the baddies. See: Mitchell and Webb: “Are we the baddies?”

And what about Pigamy, or Political Bigamy: being married to both parties at the same time? That’s another story.