The danger of tribal politics

Editor,

An American historian once defined our national politics as the “systematic organization of hatreds.” Although this observation was made years ago, it is just as true today. In 2020, who you hate is who you are. Our parties today are largely driven by “tribal politics”, by what they are against, rather than what they are for. Political scientists call this phenomenon negative partisanship, and its dominance was on full display at both the Democratic and Republican conventions. The type of partisanship on display by both parties was filled with dire predictions of what things will overw...