Last week, a friend of mine offered that he thought that I was so ideologically bound to classical liberalism (i.e., conservativism) that I would never vote for a Democrat. Because he meant it as an insult — as in "you are so invested in your ideology that you can't even hear another side" — it bothered me, and that caused me to think about why I oppose progressive Democrats.

What I realized was that some of my opposition is, in fact, ideological — but the majority share of my current opposition is simply practical.

Democrats claim to offer a few things — this list isn't exhaustive, but it covers the big ones.  Dems say, "We love the Constitution and can be trusted to make and apply laws sensibly.  We know what equality is and can get it for you, and you can trust us: we are logical and reasonable."

So I took a few minutes to break down my own thoughts about these statements to see if my decisions were driven by ideology:

We love the Constitution: No.  No, you don't.  Not even a little.  You and your minions  are constantly telling us how that dusty old document hampers the progress you want to make.  The Electoral College and all those troublesome amendments you want to restrict — or, in the case of the Second Amendment, to outright repeal — are evidence you don't care about the Constitution.  And let's talk about those opinion pieces that come out every few years or so that state that nothing is acceptable short of junking the entire thing and coming up with a new one.

We can be trusted to make and apply laws sensibly: Not even close.  The border is the most recent example.  We have clear laws governing immigration, but you went from "we must have a secure border" to "those laws don't really matter, and if they did, to enforce them is racist and xenophobic" to "no human is illegal, just open the damn thing, will you?" so fast that I don't think even you realize how fast you got there.  What that tells me is that you were already there all along, and you were lying to either yourself or everybody else.  I'm thinking it was the latter . Another example in five words: Hillary Clinton's private email server.

We know what equality is and can get it for you: Nope again.  You are very comfortable treating people unequally in order to favor another group.  That's not equality.  You have proven time and time again: you are more than willing to take from some and give to the other and use force of law to do it.  Human nature cannot be contained by a coercive government — you don't end hate by making hate illegal; you just drive it underground.

We know why income inequality exists and promise to cure that for you: Not a chance, bucko.  Just like all collectivists, you assume you can break the human spirit, the desire to achieve and perform to the best of your abilities, and change human nature.  You can't.  There are always going to be individuals who are driven to use their talents and those who want to sit on their derrieres and consume good oxygen.  There is no way to make those two equals.

You can trust us: Nah, pass.  You are both fickle and feckless.  As to trust, if you can't be counted to do what you say, you can't possibly be trusted.  There are people in your camp who will lie when the truth would work better.

We are logical and reasonable: No.  You have proven time and time again that you can create and believe some of the most outlandish scenarios and ideas, concepts that run completely counter to the laws of nature, the laws of logic and reason, and sometimes the laws of physics — and if those don't help your cause, you will drop them like a hot rock and pick up another one.

None of these is an ideologically based position.  Every single one if these is practical and more or less pragmatic.  These are also things the people to whom Democrats are promising free stuff should be entertaining.

In my mind, the modern Democratic Party has a lot in common with a cheating spouse.  He likes a little on the side, and since he has already broken a contract with his significant other by being with you, what is there — other than your blind belief — that says he won't cheat on you when he finds something better?

No, it isn't really my ideology that prevents me from voting for Democrats.  It is the Democrats themselves who have convinced me not to do it.