Tribalism at root of U.S. political crisis

Re Donald Trump tests the limits of partisanship,

Opinion July 21 Adam Goldenberg’s defence of political partisanship, even the hold-your-nose type being forced upon many U.S. Republicans now, is thoughtful and insightful. Parties do fill linking and organizational needs in a democracy.

I think, however, that he is missing an important dynamic in political parties today, as he tries to explain away the betrayal of policy conscience that many partisans undergo in order to support a candidate such as Donald Trump. The sad and simple truth is that political parties exist today for one primary reason, and one reason only: to get elected, and that colours everything they do.

Consistent policies promoting a party’s understanding of the greater public good do not underpin how parties behave any more. Instead, policies have become nothing more than changeable, disposable wedge weapons aimed at political enemies in the hope of electoral gain.

The Congressional Republicans’ admission that they would stridently oppose everything Barack Obama pro- posed, regardless of content, is tragic proof of this fact.

There was hope for a post-partisan U.S. following Obama’s 2008 election. We’ve seen how that worked out. In the U.S., where the two-party system is so entrenched, parties have become nothing more than tribes, with all the prejudice and bias that unfortunately is so often associated with tribalism.

Goldenberg states that partisanship is often a dirty word. I would state that, in the U.S. today, it is always a dirty word. Michael Farrell, Oakville