America's war of religions
A field guide to identifying partisans at a glance.
We are in a religious war. It can be useful to know who is on which side.
American politics isn't the economy, stupid. Fighting over money and taxes and tariffs and war and peace is passé.
The old language of politics muddles the reality. Issues that were important in earlier decades don't matter anymore, even though we hear some of the old words. Republicans call Democrats "socialists" as if it means something, but partisans and officeholders in both parties essentially agree on big government to address problems. It is an imaginary issue. We would realize it if bipartisanship weren't defined as disloyalty. No one wants "socialism," the government owning steel mills, airlines, banks or any other significant cog in the "means of production."
People may imagine they oppose government involvement in health care, but Republicans eagerly promoted "warp speed" development of COVID vaccines with government money. Even people carrying signs protesting "socialism" or "government health care" support Medicare and Social Security, and Medicaid, too, once they realize it provides nursing care benefits to their parents.
Members of either party could argue for or against tariffs, for or against farm subsidies, for or against using corn to make ethanal, for more or less military spending, for one position or another on relations with Russia or China, for more or less internationalism or isolation, and for more or less regulation of technology. We have parties but we don't divide on those issues. Immigration only appears to be a dividing issue. In fact both teams welcome newcomers if they are the right ones. The red team welcomes Cubans wanting a better life, but not Mexicans one. It is about team, not principle.
Trump led a team, not a platform. He reversed the supposed ideology of the GOP on nearly every bedrock issue and Republican voters went along. It turns out that Republican voters didn't like Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan trickle-down economics, stingy public benefits, and the U.S. being quick to do preventive wars abroad. Trump led. Voters followed. GOP officeholders woke up and went along.
Politics is about beliefs and a sense of being part of a community of like-minded people, i.e. religion. People can agree to disagree about public policy, but religion is about identity. Disagreement is experienced as an insult. The religious wars in Europe pitted Catholics against Lutherans against Calvinists--sometimes within a single polity, but more often between them. Our American religious war is not over church liturgy or the role of the Pope; it is about ideas of right and wrong, true and false.
We do not need to look into a person's soul to see their religious team. People live it.
A field guide: Red Team, Blue Team
Rural address versus an urban address
Work outdoors versus work indoors
Pickup truck versus hybrid sedan
Male versus female
White versus Black or Brown
Non-college versus college graduate,
Fox News versus mainstream news
Washington Examiner versus Washington Post
Anti-abortion versus abortion rights
Church on Sundays versus no church
Evangelical church versus mainstream Protestant
No mask in stores versus masked-up
Non-vaccinated versus vaccinated
Likes Enes Cantor Freedom versus likes LeBron James
Dislikes Colin Kaepernick versus admires Colin Kaepernick
Hated Russia but now likes it versus disliked Russia and still does
Dislikes "socialists!" versus dislikes "fascists!"
The list above is not complete nor foolproof. It is likely that on one or two of the 16 items, a person from one faith will have a trait on the other side. A Republican might drive a plug-in hybrid. Not every Democrat finished college. But if one encounters a White man from a rural address who works outdoors, who didn't go to college, and who isn't wearing a mask in a grocery store, it is an excellent bet that the person is in team red, probably isn't vaccinated and probably disagrees with Colin Kaepernick. Especially if his sweatshirt reads "LET'S GO BRANDON."
But it is best to be careful about profiling people and jumping to a conclusion. Maybe he just works for Brandon Davis construction, and he is wearing the sweatshirt because he got it for free from the company.