Cattle ranchers brand their cattle. They have good reason to do so. When a wayward steer is found, the rancher can reclaim it. If stolen, the authorities can return it to the rancher’s herd. Maintaining the herd is what keeps the rancher solvent: it is the sole foundation for the ranch’s existence. For the cattle, the ranch is no more than a place to feed. But for the rancher, it is everything. You cannot have a cattle ranch without cattle. And a marginally depleted herd may not allow the ranch to remain solvent. So, branding is important for the survival of the ranch, not so much for the cattle.

Many in my father’s generation felt delivered from the Great Depression and a world war by a democratic President. Understandably, my father identified himself as a lifelong democrat. To rile him, his mischievous son gave him a framed picture of President Ronald Reagan. That picture never found wall space. But it did occasion a lot of arguments between us. The root of those disagreements was my father’s allegiance to the Democratic Party. He carried the Democratic brand proudly. The Party was his herd, and he would never consider wandering off the range.

It may seem obvious where this metaphor is leading. But bear with me. There is more here than the very observable fact that politicians take their brand too seriously—that is, weighing it more important than their oath of office. There is also more to this political branding than its justification for blind adherence to Party positions—that is, feeding exclusively on Party taglines and position statements. While the steer has no individual loyalty to the herd, the Party loyalist must consciously identify with the Party. And there is the rub. The brand becomes you.

Before we elected our current President, he was very successful at one endeavor: branding. Despite multiple bankruptcies, he called himself a successful businessman. He made his name, “Trump,” a brand that signified a self-proclaimed success. He quickly learned that his many failures with Trump steaks, Trump wine, Trump University, Trump Foundation, and his investments in many real estate ventures, including his infamous casino, were not as important to his financial status as his brand. That brand was his sole claim to success: it heralded, like a clarion exclamation from the top of Trump Tower in New York, Donald Trump was a winner. But it was—and still is—a lie. But truthfulness has nothing to do with a brand. And that is the genius of Donald Trump.

Currently, I am reading George Will’s book, “The Conservative Sensibility,” and Samantha Power’s book, “A Problem from Hell.” George Will, while erudite, is not a close-minded right-wing radical unable to communicate to a more liberal society. He is, in fact, a learned student of our Constitution, the most liberal document of its kind. And Samantha Power is more than a “bleeding liberal” completely divorced from the practicality of 21st century life. She is, in fact, our former UN Ambassador who fought to bring our founding principles into our foreign policy and into the framework of international relations. Both Will and Power represent what is best about America. Ironically, their last names imply the source of America’s power—and that is, in our free will.

So, what is your brand? The only acceptable answer is “I don’t have a brand, for I am a liberated American.” No Party can claim you. You are not cattle, gathered into a political herd. You are free to choose your political positions and biases. But that freedom depends upon your ability to distinguish truth from lie, to expose the truth that branding hides, and to weigh the difference between adherence to Party and support for the American Constitution and the principles that created it.

Cattle branding is a claim of ownership. And it separates herds, one from another. In a political context, branding breeds the divisiveness we currently witness in the media, in rallies, and in our elected representatives. But the individual freedom we cherish demands we place American ideals before Party affiliation. Is the red MAGA hat a symbol of American ideals or of branding?

Don’t be branded a Party patriot. Instead, be a free American patriot.

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For a more extensive discussion on divisiveness, read “A Divisive Democracy or What?”