Jordan Peterson has become something of a household name in the last several years. His strong stance on free speech, his support of well-reasoned civil discourse, and his gentle but hard-hitting talks on the basics of life has endeared himself to many young millennials. Above all, Peterson’s new book, 12 Rules for Life, is a monument to the value of common sense in a world that has gone awry.  

It is this same common sense that shines forth in a video Peterson released for election day. In it Peterson puts forth an ad he would have run if he was an American citizen campaigning for the Democrats.

Peterson first praises the past history of the Democrat party, noting its strong commitment to hard work, love of freedom, and support of the little man. These things, note Peterson, created a country with strong community and great opportunity.

Sadly, Peterson goes on to explain, such is no longer the case. He says:

“But we as Democrats have faltered in our duty in recent years. We have allowed the discourse within our ranks to become increasingly dominated by a tiny, well-organized, and disruptive minority who have insisted ever more stridently that our culture is a tyrannical, destructive patriarchy, and that we are not sovereign, responsible, individual citizens capable of negotiating a shared and prosperous peace, but oppressive, or oppressed, minority group members defined above all by our sex, race, ethnicity, and sexual preference.”

Peterson goes on to say that such actions have “betrayed and insulted” the “primary constituency” of the Democrat party, the very working class, average Americans who set the Democratic party on its original path to greatness.

Peterson’s words are bold, to say the least. But does he make a good point? Does the modern frustration with politics – not only with the Democrat party, but the Republican as well – stem from the fact that parties have often abandoned the common man trying to make an honest living, catering instead to a few vocal and aggressive voices and their demands? Will the party, as Peterson intimates, who promises to begin paying attention to the common man and common sense be the one who can win the day?

[Image Credit: Gage Skidmore (Peterson) CC BY-SA 3.0]