Ross Andrews (@rossandrews3)

There's a dynamic that I'm sure you're aware of but you didn't quite capture in this essay. As Americans we used to have outgroups like the Soviet Union and the Germans. However, as we developed the largest economy and most powerful military in the history of the world, there was no other country or outside entity that made a compelling villain. Emerging to fill the void was the opposing political tribe. Democrats and Republicans are each other's outgroup. However, there are a few things keeping us in line. First, the two groups are intertwined in the US economy so there's a practical necessity to tolerate each other. Second, many of us have family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc who are on the other side, and we might resent them but also probably wouldn't be willing to mow them down in the most brutal and violent way possible. Third, the two sides are fairly even in terms of political power so neither side has much of an opportunity to take down the other side. Nonetheless, we do tell stories about how the other side is evil, our side is virtuous, and we need to run a scorched earth campaign and utterly destroy those fuckers. I could give plenty of examples but that might get into dangerous territory. I'm sure anyone reading this could at least think of ways their opponents do this.