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I am principled, in the sense that principles are very important to me. This no doubt stems back to my time studying and teaching ethics.
Take a common situation. John criticizes Frank for doing X. (Doesn't matter what X is. Could be anything from "invading Iraq" to "littering" to "check-raising all-in with a turned gutshot against a maniac on a paired board".)
In order for John's criticism to have any point to it, there has to be some sort of principle behind it. Moreover, John has to believe in the principle. John has to be willing to subject his own actions, and the actions of people he favors, to the same principle. If this is not the case, then John's criticism is, literally, worthless, and listening to John is a complete waste of time.
I believe in principles, and I believe that people should at least try to live up to them. I am willing to subject my principles to scrutiny, and to discover whether my actions, and the actions of people I support, actually live up to these principles. If they don't, I need to be
willing to condemn those people, even if they're "on my side." Even if they're me.
A bunch of people in the world really believe that principles don't matter. For these people, the only thing that matters is that their side wins an argument, or an election, or whatever. "My side" can be a political party, or a religion, or a nation, or even a family (for instance, the Godfather films). "All non-Christians will go to hell" is a common expression of this. "My country right or wrong." "Keep it in the family." "I'd vote for a yellow dog before I'd vote for a Republican." Cubs fans can also fit here.
It's pretty easy to tell whether the person you're talking to has any principles, or whether all they care about is that their side be recognized as the good guys. You ask them (after they've condemned someone for doing X), "Why do you believe that X is wrong?" When they give you some reason, some principle that they claim is behind their condemnation, then you find a person who they support (or the person himself) who has acted clearly against that principle. And you ask them if their criticism applies to that person as well.
If they say "Yes it does, and I think what that person did in that case was wrong," then you're probably dealing with a principled person.
If they say "No it doesn't, because in that particular case, these other things a, b, and c were going on, which makes it a different case" -- then you need to continue the conversation for a while. This answer can either be an honest reply based on principles, or a sneaky way to avoid applying one's principles honestly.
If they say "You're a sick person to even equate what evil person Y did with what good person Z did," then you're probably dealing with a person who doesn't care about principles. For these people, there are no principles that constrain everybody equally. There are different rules for "good guys" versus "bad guys." The good guys, no matter what evil they do, remain good, while the bad guys are so bad that it doesn't actually matter what they do or how defensible it is, and anybody who tries to defend anything they have ever done becomes a bad guy themselves.
Whether or not a person is principled can also depend on the issue being discussed. Some issues it's easy to be principled about, especially individual moral questions like murder or whatever. Murder = bad. Taking care of others = good. Stuff like that. But others it isn't. In a lot of foreign policy issues, for instance, I think most Americans have a hard time being principled. For example, I don't think that any principle at all can be detected in the history of American attitudes toward the possession of nuclear weapons. We need them, but nobody else should have them, except our friends. My side (= American and its allies) is good so we get to have these weapons, as well as any others we can devise; your side (= everybody else) is bad so you are evil if you try to get them.
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I am a moderate, in the sense that I don't think that either political party in America has better principles than the other. I believe that drugs should be decriminalized, services should be public only when the private sector can't do it better, all subsidies should be abolished, wars should only be a last resort, people should have the right to privacy in their own homes. I believe that elections should be fair and gerrymandering should be eliminated. I believe in freedom of speech for Nazis and Communists alike. I believe that our schools need to be better and that poor schools especially should have more resources, but also that teachers' unions are part of the problem, not the solution. I believe in free trade, but I believe in expanding free trade agreements to cover all professions including lawyers and doctors, not just lower-paid professions. I do not believe in the redistribution of income for its own sake, or that corporations are inherently bad. I am not a pacifist, but I do think the war machine needs to be controlled. I think the President and the Congress are co-equal branches of government, no matter who controls either branch. I don't think that America is always right, but I don't think we're always wrong, either. I think taxes should be as low as possible, but I think some tax cuts make sense and others don't. Some of these are typical Republican beliefs, some are typical Democratic beliefs. I tend to tilt more "left" on social issues, and more "right" on economic issues. But not always.
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Most important, though, I believe in the importance of keeping an open mind, and continuing to think, all the time. If I have any bedrock principle, this is it. Maybe I don't do as well at this as I would like to, but I try. And if someone points out that I am refusing to rethink something based on good information, that's a serious problem for me, and something I have to deal with.
So I don't much care if you're a Republican or a Democrat, a Christian or a Muslim or an agnostic or an atheist, an American or a German or a Frenchman or a Brit or a Canadian or an Australian, or even a Scandinavian or a Texan. I don't care if you're white or black or any other color. When it comes to politics, I'm interested in hearing what you have to say, what your principles are, and how those principles affect the way you think. If you're open-minded, and if you take principles seriously rather than just pretending to, then I welcome a conversation with you. Politics is just interesting stuff, and important too. Figuring some of these things out and coming to find common ground is worth the time and effort it takes.
If and when I don't live up these principles in future discussions of politics, please feel free to point this out, and nail me to the wall for it. Thanks.
