We’ve all heard it before: “I’m not on the right or the left” or “both sides are wrong” or “let’s hear both sides.” These statements may seem like they are a valiant plea for bipartisanship and pragmatism, but these fall flat when “both sides” are considered for various social issues in the U.S. today.
Let’s put it bluntly, there are no “both sides” worth hearing in regards to racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and transphobia. All of these have been expressed both implicitly and explicitly by the right on more occasions than the left. In fact, the left and the Democratic party are arguably the biggest anti-bigotry forces in the country right now. While Republicans pass bill after bill limiting trans rights, voter rights, immigrant rights and opposing any legislation that supports these groups, Democrats have largely defended these groups.
The debate on this topic is really not a debate at all, it’s the old conversation of black people having to explain why certain policies impact them more than others, women struggling to have men believe them and trans people having to justify their existence.
All of these examples share something in common: The majority of the left will support and listen to these groups and work towards an understanding while the majority of the right has already made up its mind. Instead of pretending that the divided state of our country is because of a lack of compromise on both sides, let’s just be honest about who’s not bringing anything to the table.
