Senate Republicans

I want to explain a little more what I mean by “ideology is not located in the individual.” I assume most of my readers do not vote Republican, but if you do, just replace what I am saying here with s/Republican/Democrat.

Have you ever talked with a Republican Senator? Or a congressperson, or an office holder at the local level, just someone who is expected to vote for the Republican position and repeat the party line. Not “watched some stump speech,” or five seconds of glad-handing in a parade, but actually had a conversation with them like a friend, or even a small group?

They’re… actually pretty reasonable. Sure you’re not going to agree with them, but they understand your basic points, and have coherent reasons they prefer their ideology instead. They can quote some evidence that doesn’t sound insane. They agree that lock-step extreme solutions without flexibility are not a good idea. They all around sound like a sane, practical individual who wants to help the country while being compassionate and humble. Really, I’m not kidding.

But how do they act as Senators? Once they are a group of 52 people under the spotlight, they all vote together for the most unqualified, suspect nominees. They give floor speeches full of platitudes and red-meat, portraying their opponents as dolt and traitors. There are few bodies on earth who give greater validation to the adage “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” than the Senate Republican Caucus.

I find this emergent phenomenon fascinating. How can so many intelligent, sensible people as a groupact in such a bull-headed, evil way? The answer is to look at the group dynamics. One Senator may privately have some doubts, but to act on them would get them called a RINO and punished by the primary system. Heck all Senators may have those private doubts, but once a sufficiently powerful defector-punishment system is in place, they all are powerless to express that opinion.

A few people who have sufficiently strong and weird ideals may resist it more than others (Hello Rand Paul), but even that’s a blip in the register of continual support of simplistic and impractical political proposals.

And once you’ve recognized this dynamic – whereby reasonable people, when united as a group around an ideological goal that you can be punished for deviating from, become a horde of heartless automatons – you can see it many other places. Trump supporters on Reddit. College campuses trying to understand social justice. The political party you agree with, not just the one you dislike.

If you want to understand what’s going on with all of these groups, which in some ways seems so similar no matter what the specific belief is, then you must recognize that what’s going on is a “belief” but not a belief held by any one specific individual.