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RowanE comments on Can we dodge the mindkiller? - Less Wrong
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That doesn't sound like they identify as Democrats as a specific political -ism at all.
If they're registered to vote democrat mainly because of their position on gay marriage, and I'm guessing also a negative opinion of the Republican party, and describe themselves as Democrats if asked about their political views because it's a convenient answer, that's not really the same thing.
Is that a No-True-Scottsman argument or is there something subtle I'm missing there?
I don't think it's a no true scotsman thing, although as I was writing the comment I did worry that I was veering into that territory.
How one defines a Democrat varies, and only some ways of defining it make sense with the sort of Democrats you describe, and I don't think the overlap of "Democrats" and "people who identify with a specific political -ism" contains those. This will vary a bit depending on how one is interpreting "identify with a specific political -ism". I think this is where the disagreement lies.
You confuse party affilation with political beliefs. It's a mistake that comes from living in a two party state and having a media that tries to convince everyone that red and blue are the two political beliefs that one can have.
It's very worthile to have a mental concept of political beliefs that goes beyond party affilation.
George Orwell would say that the media tainted the language in a way that makes it impossible to analyse political beliefs in your vocabulary.