How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
Harold Ford, Jr., spoke at the LGBT Community Services Center last night to clarify his stance on gay rights. Ford has been criticized for a number of his recent policy flips. Prominently, he changed his stance against gay marriage to a pro-gay position. Many have said Ford's left-leaning shift is in preparation for a run for the Senate seat currently held by fellow Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand.
Whether or not you believe the authenticity of Ford's new, more liberal views, his ideological revisions seem to be emblematic of the rampant partisanship that is sweeping the nation. It leads us to wonder how much politicians must change their stated beliefs to fit into a fixed formula set forth by our nation's political parties.
Have we become so simplistic that we must define politicians in such a rigid construct? Does a pro-gay marriage stance make Ford more of a Democrat? Before we get to work fixing our allegedly broken government, perhaps we should examine what makes it such a divisive place.
