Great article. All politics becoming national has been a disaster for driving increasing partisanship. Someone needs to be focused on schools, roads, housing, safety, and not just foreign policy and culture wars.
Isn't the problem that moral clarity is actually very tractable when it comes to politics? Having clear messaging that is mobilizing often leads to this kind of rhetoric. In that sense is it not systemic that we will keep seeing this in our politics and voting?
Yes - I think this is a real problem in the sense that moral clarity is a GREAT tool to organize people quickly based on outrage, and thus can be a great way to find success as a political entrepreneur. So if you goal is simply to gain power, its often effective, and in structural environments (like the US federal government) where getting stuff done is very hard, voters will keep rewarding people because there isn't much incentive to vote for more pragamatic folks. Local politics thankfully don't have these same structural incentives, but its still possible for outrage entrepreneurs to get into office
I guess I would say that the two problems you run into with moral clarity is 1) its much harder to pass actual legislation when you root your organize solely in this kind of absolute moral vision, because compromise and pragmatism become anathema to your supporters and 2) I think extreme moral clarity tends to burn out very quickly, because people start asking critical questions, or the failure to reckon with complexity leads to overreach and backlash.
Maybe this is my own naivete, but I do think movements rooted in a positive, pragmatic and constructive visions, while harder to build upfront, sustain better over the longer run, because its easier to sustain the hope than outrage
Thomas, excellent article, as always. While it's true I don't agree with all your positions, I find your thoughtfulness, humility, and desire to grapple with the complexity of our current policy-making, politics, and social justice issues winsome and helpful. Thank you for your work here.
Great article. All politics becoming national has been a disaster for driving increasing partisanship. Someone needs to be focused on schools, roads, housing, safety, and not just foreign policy and culture wars.
Isn't the problem that moral clarity is actually very tractable when it comes to politics? Having clear messaging that is mobilizing often leads to this kind of rhetoric. In that sense is it not systemic that we will keep seeing this in our politics and voting?
Yes - I think this is a real problem in the sense that moral clarity is a GREAT tool to organize people quickly based on outrage, and thus can be a great way to find success as a political entrepreneur. So if you goal is simply to gain power, its often effective, and in structural environments (like the US federal government) where getting stuff done is very hard, voters will keep rewarding people because there isn't much incentive to vote for more pragamatic folks. Local politics thankfully don't have these same structural incentives, but its still possible for outrage entrepreneurs to get into office
I guess I would say that the two problems you run into with moral clarity is 1) its much harder to pass actual legislation when you root your organize solely in this kind of absolute moral vision, because compromise and pragmatism become anathema to your supporters and 2) I think extreme moral clarity tends to burn out very quickly, because people start asking critical questions, or the failure to reckon with complexity leads to overreach and backlash.
Maybe this is my own naivete, but I do think movements rooted in a positive, pragmatic and constructive visions, while harder to build upfront, sustain better over the longer run, because its easier to sustain the hope than outrage
Thomas, excellent article, as always. While it's true I don't agree with all your positions, I find your thoughtfulness, humility, and desire to grapple with the complexity of our current policy-making, politics, and social justice issues winsome and helpful. Thank you for your work here.
Thanks Bryan!