Here’s an good read from Reason on the curse of tribalism, or identity politics. That would be the race/gender/sex/creed/etc. politics primarily peddled by the left, the reaction to which was in isolated pockets also tribal. Author Robby Soave writes:
in subjugating individual rights, [identity politics] also undermine social welfare. Instead of asking whether a given policy makes sense, tribalists only ask whether a given policy is good for the tribe to which they belong—for women, or for the white working class, or for Muslims, and so on. In that way, identity politics put the ostensible good of the group before the good of the individual and the good of society as a whole.
Nothing good will come of this. To defend individual liberty and promote human prosperity in the era of Trump, libertarians must fight the insidious notion that the point of politics is to back the tribe’s champion.
“Nothing good will come of this.” Though I used that same phrase last March, I also found reason to hope for better days, if it is possible for all “sides” to be circumspect:
If enough people share this worry, we may rediscover — we may rekindle — America’s unifying principles. We would recognize we all share similar goals, though we disagree greatly on how best to achieve them.
For that reason, I hope in this North Carolina experiment to show that liberals and conservatives may break bread together and discourse civilly about the challenges of the day.
Breaking bread together creates a bond — friendship — where there once wasn’t. We can [re]build on that.
The Right is still sufficiently alarmed about the imperial presidency of Obama. The Left now fears Trump bearing that same ill-gotten power. There is a brief window where we are in agreement (with the Founders, too) on the perils of too much power and the rule of man instead of the rule of law.
If we act on this unity, we can restore for ourselves and future generations America’s liberating principles. One can hope.
