The time of “Both Sides” is over.

The days of looking at Democrats and Republicans the same way are suspended indefinitely. They both have their individual faults, but that doesn’t excuse exercising common sense and dutiful critical thought in a time when we need it most.

“Both sidesing” political arguments is an old trope, but it has overstayed its welcome. It’s not a compelling argument; in fact, it’s not an argument at all. It’s not courageous. And we now find ourselves in a time where we need both the courage and the compelling arguments to do the right thing, to do the obvious thing, even if we have to hold our nose and wish it was 2028.

Even if an individual says “both sides” are equal (usually “equally bad”), do they really believe it? Will their actions betray their thoughts? At the end of the day, they have to make a choice. They can’t vote for both sides. They have to align themselves with their quieter virtue signals. The alternative is to sit out and not vote. Few will be convinced to vote for a third party.

So it’s not really “both sides,” is it? A choice will be made. They should be left with a blurred sense of identity, but instead likely feel confident in their final choice. Why shouldn’t they, anyway? I argue they know all along where their allegiance lies.

There’s no equivocation of certain aspects of our two parties.

• Only one party responds to political violence with the idea that it’s the solution to our division.
• Only one party believes a president should have 100% immunity. Of course, they only believe that because it will protect their guy. Classic example of narrowminded, dictatorial thinking.
• Only one party wholesale rejects the justice system when the evidence points out of favor of their favorite politician du jour.
• Only one party attacked a legal process involving a national election without any evidence of wrongdoing.
• Only one party claims to be the party of freedom with their right hand while banning books, taking away women’s rights, and putting corporations and profits above all else with their left hand.
• Only one party talks about “helping Americans first” while voting down measures that would directly do so.
• Only one party had the most unproductive Congress is US history.

There’s no equivocating these irreconcilable differences. Logically there is no connection between these two. Traditional conservatives are still needed in civil conversation, but statistically they’ve been gobbled up by the MAGA movement. In that respect, America has switched its traditional “conservative” party from Republicans to Democrats. The Republican Party is now the Regressive Party. They’re not conserving anything. Democrats have actually become the conservatives because they’re the only ones conserving the environment, our justice system, women’s rights, election integrity, and so on.

It is time to do the right thing. Keep Trump out of office in 2024.