The Church of Un-Aligned Polity
Welcome to the Church of Un-Aligned Polity - where all politicized sinners are welcome to trade in their tribal tattoos and burn their subscription to ideological purity, and redeem the lost art of critical thinking. Here, we offer no absolution, only observations. You will not be asked for loyalty, only for a willingness to unplug your brain from its IV drips of partisan talking points to breathe the cool air of independent thought.
This is not a church of apathy, nor one of smug detachment. It is a gathering place for those who still believe in truth, who can no longer stomach the carnival mirror distortions of reality offered up by Left & Right alike. It is a place for seekers - those willing to give up the dopamine of outrage in exchange for the quieter, deeper rewards of understanding.
Players in the political game wear glasses that overlay fictions onto the realities occurring around them. These aren’t corrective lenses. They don’t help to see better. They distort. They obscure. They’re like funhouse goggles glued to your face - and the longer you wear them, the more you forget what the world really looks like.
Let us be very clear - the distortions affect both sides. The myths each tribe tells about themselves are just as dishonest as the monster stories they tell about their enemies. The Left tells itself it is the vanguard of compassion. The Right tells itself it is the keeper of order. Both imagine themselves as misunderstood heroes - noble, embattled, & brave. Both are frequently partly right & often wildly wrong. Partisans suffer from a powerful confirmation bias—a kind of mental armor that deflects all inconvenient facts, regardless of how solid the evidence or how glaring the contradictions. When new information threatens the narrative, it is dismissed as propaganda. When events expose the flaws in their logic, they pivot to personality. If all else fails, they just shout louder.
Nearly all of the public outrage - the panty-wetting & pearl-clutching over what, why, how, & occasionally who - amounts to little more than gaslighting & tribal theater. It’s not really debate. It’s performance art. A morality play, endlessly rehearsed for the approval of the endless political narrative, (a weaponized mythology of the present; if your side does it, it’s “bold.” When theirs does it, it’s “fascist.” When your team lies, it’s “strategic.” When theirs lies, it’s “evil." Just as disturbing as the demonization of the enemy is the canonization of one’s own champions. There’s a baffling tendency to turn political figures into holy figures - faultless, fearless, beyond scrutiny. Say the right buzzwords & you’re forgiven anything. Parrot the correct slogan & all sins are washed clean. This is not politics.
It’s cult behavior.
Where does that leave those who sincerely wish to both be true to their principles and effective in shaping the social narrative?
Where does it leave people who are tired of being told that to care about the country you must first swear allegiance to the dumbest, most hate-filled people in your own tribe?
Where does it leave the intelligent skeptic, the hopeful realist, the passionate moderate, and the heretic idealists?
It leaves them here. In this non-religious church for the worship of Truth. In this temple of unaffiliated, unhypnotized politically homeless refugees from the war to enslave Truth.
Gather ye here & I will reveal the truths that can set your votes free.
Let us begin looking with Love & understanding on those who heed the voice in their soul to work within the stable, existing systems. These are people now generally associated with what we call the polity of the Right. They are not fascists. They are not bigots. They are people who understand that human progress needs anchors. That structure, order, & tradition are not always chains. Sometimes, they are lifeboats.
Their central strength is faith in slow reform. Their central weakness is inertia. Even after it becomes blindingly obvious that something must be done - that evil is growing bold & damage is occurring - it often takes a Pearl Harbor-level slap in the face for them to act. When they do act, it can be clumsy, delayed, or a decade late & several ideas short.
Too often, the icon of a conservative is a really large rock: 98% integrity, 2% initiative.
This is not always a bad thing. Rocks are stable. Rocks don’t shift with the winds. But rocks also don’t build bridges. They don’t evolve. They just sit - sometimes stubbornly - while the world burns around them. And when they finally get rolling, it may be downhill & destructive.
Now let’s speak of the souls who see the world through Leftist eyes. These are not devils. They are not lunatics. They are people who see injustice, who want change, and who believe compassion requires disruption. To them, the system itself is the enemy. Its flaws are foundational, & that foundation must be torn up to plant something new.
In their eyes, every rule is suspect, every hierarchy is violence, & every victim is holy.
This mindset allows for great moral passion. It inspires crusades for justice. But it also justifies means that can become terrifying ends. Flaws in the system justify gaming the system - lying to it, defying it, breaking it - as long as it’s “for the victims.” And there are ALWAYS victims; useful tools to leverage more moral authority
This isn’t a slippery slope to tyranny. It’s a greased slide.
History has shown again & again how this movie ends.
Go back to Cromwell, to the execution of a king in the name of liberty. Then forward to the French Revolution, the Mexican, Russian, Chinese, Cuban, Iranian - ad nauseum. Each time we see “progressive” heroes with stars in their eyes & a burning hatred in their hearts. They truly hate what they see in themselves and want to change. They arise claiming to lead their people to paradise, and each time, paradise burns.
Things go hideously sideways - either permanently, or for years afterwards - usually ending only with famine, a war, mass graves, and finally, collapse. There is a tragic pattern here. Utopian movements believe that if only they held the reins, injustice would vanish. But once power is seized, the purity tests begin.
Dissent becomes sabotage. Mercy becomes weakness. Enemies are redefined not by what they do, but what they believe, or fail to believe loudly enough. Revolutions inevitably consume their own, the dream dies.
The enemies of your enemies may turn out to be bigger sonsabitches than your present enemies. That is a law worth memorizing.
Use discretion. Use facts. Use your gut, not your glands. When aligning with fanatics on individual issues, ask yourself - is this person going to burn the barn down to kill a rat? Are they focused on fixing a problem, or with punishing someone?
The Church of Un-Aligned Polity does not offer a doctrine. It offers a discipline. The discipline is this: Stop being lazy with your hate. Start being curious. Start asking the questions no one else in your tribe is asking - the questions that might cost you a few friends. Ask them anyway.
Why do they believe what they believe?
What wound are they protecting?
What fear is driving this behavior?
Go forth and seek to understand instead of hating those who seem to need opposing. Remember, your enemy could well be half-right. Your ally may well be half-mad. YOU just might be the one asleep at the wheel.
Courage is what happens when you fear the right things.
Fear mobs. Fear moral certainty. Fear movements that say you’re either with us or against us - because once they win, they always turn on their own.
But don’t fear thinking for yourself. Don’t fear being a voice alone. Don’t fear voting wrong according to everyone else’s test. Fear being a coward when history needed you to be a question mark.
In this church, we welcome the apostate. We welcome the flip-flopper who flipped for a reason. We welcome the lifelong conservative who’s fed up with performative incompetence. We welcome the liberal who sees the new puritanism for what it is. We welcome the centrist who’s not lukewarm, but red-hot with ideas too real for either side to hear.
There is a better way. A braver way. A slower, harder, smarter way. It is not middle-of-the-road. It is off-road, uphill, and honest.
It is the path of un-aligned polity. It leads not to safety, but to clarity.
You won’t win many elections this way. You won’t be popular at dinner parties. But you might just help preserve the idea of a republic - one made not of slogans, but of people. Not of posturing, but of principles. Not of partisans, but of citizens. So join us. Take off the jersey. Step out of the echo chamber. Let your thoughts breathe.
Welcome to the Church of Un-Aligned Polity.
We’ve saved you a pew down front.