Five years ago today, I experienced a moment that changed so much for me. 

I can rarely pinpoint moments that are catalysts for personal change, but this one was clear, even at the moment: 

I became non-partisan after a certain sentence was spoken to me. Ten words changed me.

To be fair, I had been questioning my party affiliation for three years prior but not to any major extent. More of a “what is happening?” type of questioning, not a thinking of leaving the party type.

What was that moment? 

I had a meeting with the policy advisor to the speaker of the house about my second Newborn Screening bill, and after he looked into it, he said:

“Your bill is dead – they don’t want to give (the minority party) a win.” 

Those words hit me like a ton of bricks, to use the cliche, and I felt like I was seeing clearly for the first time. 

They didn’t want to do the right thing because it wasn’t their idea, and it would make the other party look good.

Party politics were interfering with saving the lives of babies born with rare, treatable diseases in Pennsylvania.

I wish I were exaggerating. Five years ago today, I learned the real reason my bills hadn’t moved past committee. Why they died. That’s why it took so long. Partisanship.

And five years ago today I decided to leave partisanship behind.

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This is, of course, merely one example of partisanship hindering action. One only has to look at Congress to see increasingly frequent examples of party over principle. Party over progress. Party over decency.

I have written about this many times because I think it’s so important for us to remember that partisanship is dangerous. History demonstrates clearly that it does more harm than good.

It harms us by teaching that those who think or act differently cannot be trusted, and even that they are our enemies. Only our party and what they say can be trusted.

Even worse, it often dehumanizes the other side, making it easier to hate.

Worst of all, it prevents us from opening our minds to different approaches to solving important problems.

Being part of a team has become more important than doing what is right, loving our neighbors, and solving the issues we are facing. It has become more important to think we are right than to pursue what is right.

Our founders warned against the two-party system for good reason.

And here we are. 

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I used to say and believe the phrase  “principle over power” when it came to politics. I can remember one election in particular where that ideal came into play and impacted how I voted.

While I still believe that, it has changed slightly to principle over party (thanks to Sharon McMahon who helped put words to this idea).

I know that many think I’m crazy for making such a shift, and they don’t understand it, but the freedom I have experienced is worth the assumptions, the laughing reactions on social media (even from family), and the criticism. 

I no longer allow a party to tell me how to think, feel, or vote.
And I certainly don’t let them tell me what or who to fear.

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I didn’t realize until the years since that day just how much fear was used by political party leadership to keep their members in submission. Fear is a powerful tactic and I see it working so well today to divide our country.

I believe in solving problems, and we won’t solve them if politics is a team sport. We cannot heal our country if we’re lying about the other party, stopping action on bills for personal gain, and halting progress simply because it wasn’t our party’s idea. 

Credit shouldn’t matter, nor should the pursuit of it be rewarded. But here we are. 

Forced inaction combined with fear wins elections. 

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I’ve learned to see the value in differing perspectives and have found that we all essentially want the same things. But we allow ourselves to be convinced otherwise, to our own detriment.

I have grown so much and will never go back to being a member of a major political party. 

Principle over party. It’s the only way forward.