Political holy grail is that the Republicans are practicing “tribalism.” What constitutes tribalism is once more what people want it to be.
“Tribalism is the state of being organized by, or advocating for, tribes or tribal lifestyles. Human evolution has primarily occurred in small groups, as opposed to mass societies, and humans naturally maintain a social network. In popular culture, tribalism may also refer to a way of thinking or behaving in which people are loyal to their social group above all else, or, derogatorily, a type of discrimination or animosity based upon group differences.” — Wikipedia.
The Socialist/Democratic left is not tribal — got it. Being the advocate for and a member of the “communities” (a word for tribes), African Americans, Native Americans, gays, lesbians, women, illegal immigrants, the poor, South Sea Islanders, LBGT, Hispanics, the incarcerated and more are not tribal — really?
The whole tribal issue causes one to wonder just how the Socialist/Democrats (SD) are not dividing us. The SD is outraged that the Republican party advocates that people join American society and the American nation; just how that divides us puzzles me. Being a member of the SD means not making sense, but actually dividing us into smaller tribes or special interest groups to pit against the nation and not become an integral part of that nation. Loyalty to tribe is more important than loyalty to the nation.
The propaganda message hammered over and over is that the special interest group or tribe you belong to is being short changed, thus we need a new nation based on our differences and not our common interests. No one is an American; we are all hyphenated Americans.
I took one of those DNA tests and in the initial results it marked me as 2% South Sea Islander. Later the company reduced that percentage, still a larger percent of minority blood than SD presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has Cherokee blood. So, now do I hyphenate my identity? No, I am an American, born and bred, and proud of it. Being an American has no race, color, creed, or national origin. The French have a saying that he/she may be French, but they are not of French blood. We have no such saying as we are all Americans, regardless of our origin.
For the SD to win they must divide us and make loyalty to tribe more valuable than to the nation. Traditionally native tribes were small groups that came together to help each other. The optimal number was around 35 to 75, as that was what the land around a stone age hunter gather tribe could support. As the number of tribal members increased or decreased, tribal loyalty changed.
Native nations were mostly inventions of war, people in tribes coming together for the common defense or offense. Once again, the propaganda arm of the SD, the media, tells us that tribalism is bad and practiced by the evil Republicans, while in fact the SD are working hard to divide us into as many tribes as possible. Go figure. Senator Elizabeth Warren worked hard to be called a member of the Cherokee nation; we must wonder if she had read the history of slave ownership by that nation.
“Prior to European contact, the Cherokee had a practice of enslaving prisoners of war from other Indian tribes. In the late 18th century, some Cherokee set up European-American style plantations on their Cherokee Nation land, which occupied territory near parts of Georgia and Tennessee. They purchased African-American slaves to work this land. In 1819, the Cherokee Nation passed slave codes that regulated slave trade; forbade intermarriage; enumerated punishment for runaway slaves; and prohibited slaves from owning private property.” — Wikipedia.
Senator Warren was a Harvard professor; she must be able to read. Her working overtime to be called a member of a slave-owning community is puzzling, but as an old unhyphenated man I must be too stupid to understand.
Interesting how in covering her the media forgot to look at the whole slave owning, trading, abusing, raping, torturing history of her self-identified tribe. Being an SD means getting a free pass from the oppressive history of her chosen ancestors’ African American slave ownership. We apparently had politically correct and incorrect slave owners — got it.
The stock and trade of leftist politics these days is identity politics intended to further tribalize Americans into even more easily manipulated interest groups focused on bogeymen like Donald Trump as a “threat” to them through economic policies that have given us all the lowest unemployment in nearly 40 years.
Just think what could be accomplished if we got Government spending under control…Wishful thinking with modern Republicans and a really crazy notion with Democrats running things. Enjoy it while it lasts I guess. Watch Illinois as it slides into the Midwest USA version of Venezuela and gives us all a vivid image of where we are all headed if we don’t wake up. Property taxes there are going to get a nice 50% increase in the next few years and they will do that just to keep the spending going.
With respect, government spending has brought us the highest national debt ever under “modern” Republicans. And it doesn’t appear to be coming under control. Yes, economically we are in very good shape. How long will that last with the wealthiest getting the tax cuts and the middle class disappearing?
MacDougal,
Thank you for the comment. Lived in Illinois before moving to Michigan things are indeed bad and out of control in that State. Property taxes were nearly double what they are in Dorr.
Thanks again.
Is it just me, or this both an outcry against increased tribalism, and, at the same time, an effort to en-tribe a cute new concept, that of the SDs? Should we throw more labels around in hopes of greater fracturing of the American pluralism? Shall I make up terms for all y’all? I’ve already been taken to task this week, for employing the term TeaBaggers, which I’m trying to to forestall using, since I seem to be offending right wing snowflakes. Oops, I did it again.
Basura
You must admit being called a right wing snowflake is much less offensive than calling someone “a teabagger ” if they do not fit that label.
Labeling organizations, groups, or individuals today in conversation or media reminds me of the age old saying…the use of vulgarity ( insert labels here instead of vulgarity) is basically a weak mind trying to express its thoughts….
I looked up the term “teabaggers.” Two different definitions, one not so good one not too bad. I guess it matters if your mind is in the gutter or not. Weak minds can be dangerous.
That is the problem…one can use words that have two distinctive different definitions. So the reader has to take or hope to take the definition in context with what is written or said.
Hence neither you nor I not really knowing the authors thoughts at the time can we really come to a conclusion on who is correct.
And I stand by my statement. To use vulgarity/ labels shows that person ran out of intelligent rhetoric in the debate…..hence it is a weak mind resorting to inflammatory rhetoric.
My dad always said a word is not like a pet bird — once you let it go you can’t get it back. He (Basura) used a wrong term, let’s not degrade him. I make mistakes, so do you. Don’t let him be labeled as a weak mind.
No, it isn’t anything new, the Democrats have always been Socialists since the 1930’s and really bad the last 20 years. President Obama added $9 Trillion to the debt with no media hounding him.
Kennedy (JFK) wouldn’t have a place in the Democrat party today. He was a Consevative.
Mr. Basura,
Sir,
Senator Sanders referred to himself as a Democratic Socialist, many years ago and a few days ago nothing new in the name.
Thanks for the comment.
I read your comment and nowhere did I see you refer to Bernie Sanders. Must be Bob is confused. I think it was Trump confirming he is a nationalist, the same as Hitler and many other dictators.
Hitler was a Socialist, a National Socialist but a Socialist.
You can’t be a socialist and seek world domination at the same time.
The left and right bullshit is dividing this country more than the east and west coast. I am not a socialist DEM or a nationalist REP. I would not lower myself to belong to either one. We had campaign bickering before the new president was elected and the country got behind him. Has not happened in 20 years. Why the same jackasses who started this on both sides are still in office, what makes anyone think its going to change? Who cares what happened in 1819? Better to focus on 2019.
Just had an Aha! moment.
How much of this tribal factions is due for the need to employ the left? The rise of ‘xyz’-studies in academia gives socialists a chance to not sell out to an evil corporation while getting benefits like tenure. So you don’t lose your job for craziness. And of course the ‘non-profits’ who also get their support without actually being productive.