Three Tribes

I found this observation from Arnold Kling interesting:

Arnold Kling stopped by to talk with me on The Bill Walton Show about his book, The Three Languages of Politics. His view is that “politically aware Americans seem to split into three tribes, and those tribes use the skills of cooperation not to work with each other, but instead to mobilize against each other.”

They’ve sorted themselves into “three tribal coalitions—progressive, conservative, and libertarian. Progressives assert a moral superiority over conservatives and libertarians. Conservatives assert a moral superiority over libertarians and progressives. And libertarians assert a moral superiority over progressives and conservatives.” Not exactly a recipe for comity.

“Progressives, conservatives, and libertarians are like tribes speaking different languages. The language that resonates with one tribe does not connect with the others. As a result, political discussions do not lead to agreement. Instead, most political commentary serves to increase polarization,” he explains.

Conservative language values civilization. What preserves law and order? What preserves the virtues of western civilization?

The progressive language focuses on the relationship between oppressor and oppressed. It takes the side of the oppressed, and looks for ways to limit the power of the oppressor, while increasing the power of the oppressed.

Libertarian language frames political realities around the individual. What increases the ability of the individual to live the life they want to live? They measure everything on a scale of coercion. If I’m not coercing you, you shouldn’t coerce me, not even with laws.

and distressing. I think he’s kidding himself if he believes the language gap can be bridged.

What’s missing from all of this is any reliance on experience or evidence. Once you’ve retreated from the empirical world into the ideological one, it’s darned hard to make your way back.