Partisanship is eroding both parties

The persistence of support for Roy Moore has forced us to face a grim reality: The goal of party dominance is so paramount for so many Americans that the particular qualities of a given candidate no longer seem to matter. Candidates might as well be black or red checkers, relevant only insofar as they represent the progress of one side’s control of the game board.

Most Republicans didn’t approve of Moore’s alleged crimes, and many couldn’t stomach Donald Trump, yet they held their nose and voted for them anyway — just as many Democrats did for Hillary Clinton.

A polarized national climate threatens to trap us all into double-thinking away any candidate’s behavior, no matter how sickening, in the name of the partisan greater good. Somehow, we believe we are voting for the ideals of our party, as if those ideals can somehow persist despite the immorality of those we’ve elected. David Nurenberg Somerville, Mass.