We hear a great deal today about being on the right side of history. This mostly comes from the political left and it is worth considering. To consider all of our views and follow them through to their logical conclusion is wise indeed, but are the people who talk about it actually doing it?

As we all know, the world views of left/right, conservative/liberal, etc. change from decade to decade. As such we can’t really associate one type of behavior exclusively to the left or the right; both sides have done terrible things to people in the past.

Both sides have suit-wearing confidence men who are well trained to recite words written by teams of speech writers. Their words are specifically crafted to appeal to what they believe their audience wants to hear. These people lie as a matter of course.

So how do we know who is generally on the side of the people today? In a time when so many politicians are bought and paid for, who can we trust? Well we can’t really trust any of them. Yet we still need to be voting to make certain the less crummy candidate wins. I hate the “lesser of two evils” approach, but sometimes it’s all we have.

We might also judge by their party’s positions on certain things. Since we live in a Republic (Representative of the Public), our people and country should be forefront in the minds of the people we elect. If we find them pandering to foreigners or other nations, perhaps they aren’t representing us.

It’s all so confusing when you think about it and try to make decisions on whom you should support, but there’s good news! If we look back across history, we can see the behavior and policies of many nations. We can see what happened after certain policies were introduced. Indeed, we can fairly easily deduce who was genuinely on the right side of history.

I came up with some general guidelines on whether a politician will ever get my support. I based this on my love of history and just some plain old horse sense. My list is as follows:

1. Good guys never suppress the speech of their political enemies.
-No one who forbids free speech is EVER the good guy.

2. Good guys never sell out their country in favor of foreign interests.
-No one who floods your country with foreigners to displace you and rob you of self- determination is a good guy.

3. Good guys don’t attempt to disarm the people they represent.
-This is self-evident.

4. Good guys don’t favor criminals over their victims.
-Too many politicians try to turn criminal into martyrs. This helps no one but the politicians themselves.

5. Good guys do not persecute the weak or minorities unjustly.
-If a politician has a group he loves to scapegoat without evidence, that’s a big red flag.

6. Good guys do not use public institutions for the purpose of indoctrination.
-For example, public schools, libraries, etc. should remain politically neutral.

7. Good guys do not integrate religion into government, nor do they inject politics into religion.
-History shows us what happens when religion and politics mix and it ain’t good.

8. Good guys should not favor a criminal justice system based on wealth.
-Poor people shouldn’t be punished more than the rich for the same crime.

9. Good guys respect the will of the people who elected them.
-The whole idea of electing representatives is that they’re supposed to represent you.

10. Good guys support a system based on meritocracy, not race, gender, religion, etc.
-Discrimination is discrimination, no matter which way it goes.


I know my list isn’t perfect or exhaustive, but maybe it will help someone out there looking for some structure when evaluating a potential representative.