Regarding the Common Sense Party

“One cannot fully grasp the political world unless one understands it as a confidence game, or the stratification system unless one sees it as a costume party. . . . . Finally, there is a peculiar human value in the sociologist’s responsibility for evaluating his findings, as far as he is psychologically able, without regard to his own prejudices likes or dislikes, hopes or fears. . . . . To be motivated by human needs rather than by grandiose political programs, to commit oneself selectively and economically rather than to consecrate oneself to a totalitarian faith, to be skeptical and compassionate at the same time, to seek to understand without bias, all these are existential possibilities of the sociological enterprise that can hardly be overrated in many situations in the contemporary world. In this way, sociology can attain to the dignity of political relevance, not because it has a particular political ideology to offer, but just because it has not.” (emphasis added) -- Peter Berger, Invitation to Sociology, 1963

Some of you may know that I am informally working with the Common Sense Party in California. The group formed in August of last year. I hooked up with that outfit the day I became aware of them last September. The party needs to get 68,000 voters in California to register with the party to get official party status in the state. The voter registration drive hit about 20,000 before the effort had to be shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The group had planned to hit the needed 68,000 by July 3, but that date has come and gone. The plan now is to keep trying to get enough people to register by July 3, 2022. The 20,000 already registered will remain registered and still count to the new 2022 deadline, assuming they choose to stay registered with the CSP.

For those who are interested, an email that the group sent out to explain the situation is shown below in its entirety. What the group is dealing with is hostile and bizarre, among other things. It includes a lawsuit the group lost, but with nutty advice from the judge to go out and break a California state law. Apparently, the two-party system in California is just about as broken as it is in Washington.

The anti-biasing, anti-ideology mindset

Ideologically speaking, the CSP mindset, ideology and moral framework is closer to my pragmatic rationalism mindset, ideology and moral framework than anything else I am aware of. In a nutshell, the CSP believes in evidence-based politics and not fidelity to any particular ideology. In my opinion, that is about as good as a political mindset can ever get.

To try to help the CSP, I'll occasionally post some OPs here that are California focused. The point is to show some real world examples of how the CSP approaches political issues and how evidence is more influential than ideology. Who knows, maybe I can inspire some folks to register as CSP voters.

I hope.