Tuesday, January 30, 2018

The State of Our Politics--National and State

I listened to NPR's report by Mara Liaison on the state of politics in the United States and thought that it's also true of Texas politics. The segment is here. There are three observations about the state of contemporary politics.

First, politics is tribal. We are divided into teams. Our team is always right; the other team is always wrong. In The Tribe: On Homecoming And Belonging, Sebastian Junger describes the attributes of tribal societies: (1) people are a part of a community in which they feel invested, and (2) people are defended from their enemies. The political parties, and the people who identify with them, are tribal. A number of scholars have noted the prevalence of "negative" partisanship: it's more about opposition to the other party than support for one's own party. Also, whatever the political party leader supports is also what I support.

The second observation is the inability to separate fact from fiction. This relates to tribal nature of politics also. If a member of my party says something, then it must be true. For example, Texas Republican Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick stated on his Facebook page that "“566,000 crimes made in Texas by criminal aliens in the last 6 years.” PolitiFact rated the statement as "Pants on Fire." But I'm certain that most Republicans who read the statement believed it to be true. I imagine that it was shared many times, increasing its influence. Reality is truly in the eyes of the beholder.

A final observation in the Mara Liaison story is that people are engaged. Engagement in my own precinct is nearly unprecedented (2008 saw more involvement because of the contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination). There are block captains in my precinct who are walking their blocks, identifying party supporters, and building a list of email addresses and cell phone numbers so that they can contact them before the primary election on March 6th.