Listening to late night talk-back radio as I drive home late at night is almost always a bad idea. The presenters are usually so biased in their outlook that they ride roughshod over logic in order to promote their preferred opinion. So it was moderately amusing to hear one guest complain that politics was becoming more tribal than ever. Recent studies, and our experience of public 'debate' have shown that people care less than ever about what is true or just and more than ever about believing and echoing whatever spin their tribe is currently using to "win" the day.

As I was listening to the (very) biased radio host complaining about his audience being very biased, I couldn't help remembering a certain comedian's take on political tribalism. (LANGUAGE WARNING.)



For those who don't want to watch the video, the transcript runs a little like this (edited of course):

"The whole country has a [messed] up mentality.
We all have a gang mentality
Republicans are idiots
and Democrats are idiots
and Conservatives are idiots
and Liberals are idiots
and anyone that makes up their mind before they hear the issue is a fool. OK?
Everybody is so busy wanting to be down with the gang
"I'm a conservative." "I'm a liberal" ... it is bull****
Be a person.
Listen!
Let it swirl around your head...
THEN form  your opinion.
No normal, decent person is one thing. OK?

The problem with the tribal approach is that it is anti reason and intellect, anti justice, anti Christian and anti human. I would like to say it is anti democracy too, but I am very much afraid that depends on what kind of democracy we are talking about. In the present practice of democracy it seems that a large enough majority can redefine all things to suit that majority. fundamental principles such as justice, basic human rights, or even who is counted as a person at all, seem changeable as long as we can get enough votes. Democracy in this model is simply an exercise of raw power of one group over others. It is always a bad idea when one group dominates another without reference to any other value than their own power. While it may seem that democracy at least prevents a minority from dominating the downtrodden majority, in reality the majority dominating minorities presents its own grave dangers. Defenseless minorities have always suffered the worst when the majority's power is unchecked and unaccountable to higher principles of justice and human rights. If all that matters is the vote, then this almost guarantees that minorities will be at least ignored, or possible mistreated with impunity.

So what is the antidote to this tribalism? The key to democracy has always been the quality of the formation of the voters. If we place our hope in democracy to maintain justice, freedom, human rights and basic human decency in government, then we place our hope in each and every individual person voting according to those principles. The trouble is that we have stopped forming people in these values some time ago, and modern politics is an exercise of raw power, because that is all that is left in voters who have not been formed in virtue and values.

Every one of us who voted for or against a candidate on the basis of which tribe they are from, on whether my tribe has decided they suck, or whether they failed to virtue signal in my tribe's current fetish issue, or the colour of their tie, or the sound of their voice, or whether I liked them on TV, or whether we personally stand to gain something from a candidate's election is a part of the problem. A democratic society will only be decent when its voters are voting for decency. A democracy will only be just if the voters are voting for justice. A democracy will only be a place that protects the vulnerable if the majority vote on the basis of the vulnerable being protected as a higher priority than some small gain of our own, or the satisfaction of my tribe winning.

Imagine if we took the time and effort to actually look into the issues, and put serious thought into them. Imagine if we thought hard about the values we strive to uphold, that we want to define our communities and nation. Imagine if we started to form young voters to do the same. Imagine if we voted this way.

Maybe if we start voting this way, potential candidates will get the message and start acting this way too. A good person knows that a good life is not about getting what we want for ourselves, but about being consistently just and good to all around us. A good voter knows that a good politician is not necessarily someone who does what I want them to, but someone who will hold these values consistently, even when they think people won't agree with them.