Why do so many people…

Vote against their own best interests?

For example…

Carol, 67, depends on Social Security. Without it she’ll sink into poverty. But she votes for Trump Republicans who are determined to cut Social Security. And if they succeed, she’ll have to move to a run–down studio apartment and she’ll hate it. And even then she’ll have to skimp on food to pay her rent.

Kent, 77, depends on Medicare. Without it he’ll no longer be able to afford his prescriptions and he’ll lose access to his doctor. His health will decline, he’ll be sick a lot, and the lack of care might even shorten his life. But he votes for Trump Republicans who want to kill Medicare.

Let’s say you meet up with Carol and Kent and you explain to them very clearly, step by step, in great detail, how they’re voting against their own best interests. What will their response be?

Some Carols and Kents will engage with you and ask questions and listen to what you’re saying and change their voting in the future.

But tens of millions of them won’t. Because “best interest” means something different to them than it does to you…

They believe what’s in their best interest is belonging.

That is, belonging to a tribe they can identify with.

And this shouldn’t surprise us, because this is the ancient rule of tribalism…

First belonging, then benefits.

Throughout our long millennia of living in small tribes as hunter–gatherers, the path to benefits, like security and a good life, went through belonging.

Because…

Our tribe was our unit of survival.

And if we didn’t put belonging first we didn’t survive.

We lived inside a paradox…

Belonging to our tribe was more important to us than survival, because tribal belonging was the first requirement for survival.

It used to be that if you were loyal to your tribe, you received lots and lots of benefits. Belonging paid off.

But this is no longer true. Tribes in our mega–societies are not the same thing as the tribes of our ancestors.

In our current era, belonging and benefits can be disconnected. For example, the tribe of Trump Republicans offers…

Belonging without benefits.

These Republicans have no program. They offer no real benefits for their base, meaning the kind of benefits that would make their daily lives better and would make a better future for their kids. That kind of benefit is missing.

What they do get is…

The endorphin high of belonging.

They get to be part of a tribe that tells them…

You white people are the best. You’re exceptional. So you deserve every good thing. You get to take whatever you want from whomever you want. You get to live off the labor of people of color.

And…

You get to hate anybody who is not a member of the tribe and you get to hurt them.

Belonging to this MAGA tribe makes people mean and dangerous. So I don’t call that a benefit.

There are, however, people who do get real benefits from this tribe, even though they don’t actually belong to the tribe…

They get benefits without belonging.

I’m talking of course about the very wealthy and the corporate elites. The tribe of Trump Republicans elects politicians who fix the tax code so those who are already wealthy get lots and lots of free money.

So the very wealthy have hijacked this tribe. They’re manipulating it and exploiting it. They’ve got nothing of substance to offer to its rank and file.

Then there’s Trump’s constant grifting. He keeps sucking money from his base. And even though he’s the leader of the tribe, he’s not actually a member. He’s only focused on himself. He’s got nothing for his base. He’s not loyal to his loyal base.

This is the…

Tribal override.

The reality that…

Belonging matters more than well-being.

Even empty belonging, even self–defeating belonging matters more.

Meanwhile the Democrats are working hard to provide real, down–to–earth benefits, like…

Capping drug prices.

Creating jobs through rebuilding infrastructure.

Getting broadband into isolated rural communities.

Bringing the chip industry back home.

Forgiving college debt.

Protecting a woman’s right to choose.

And they’re defending Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid.

So why is it that millions of voters who are doing better because of these benefits are still voting for politicians intent on taking away those benefits?

The only way to make sense of this is to understand…

How strong a force tribal belonging is in the human psyche.

Which the Democratic Party doesn’t seem to understand. Because they keep offering…

Benefits without belonging.

I remember when Barack Obama was first running for president. There was so much excitement and enthusiasm among his supporters. I remember people giving up their vacations that summer to go campaign for him in swing states.

He sent out constant emails in which he promised to keep building this movement that been generated by his campaign.

But immediately after he took office, the emails about movement building stopped coming and all I got were fundraising requests. Belonging was suddenly over and done with.

When Hilary Clinton ran against Trump, her slogan was “Stronger Together.” Not bad. This had solid trans–tribal possibilities. But she only used it as a slogan. She never turned it into a tribal identity. She didn’t preach the gospel of inclusive togetherness with a deep personal passion.

Bernie Sanders ignited a loyal following. I went to a rally of his that was so packed I couldn’t get in. But even standing outside the fence around the event, I feel waves of energy pulsing. Yet his movement was so much centered on him personally that once his campaign was over, it went into a decline. The campaign had not turned itself into a tribe that could sustain.

Now Joe Biden is the leader of the Party and he’s produced a remarkable series of benefits against the odds, meaning against serious Republican opposition.

But…

Where’s the belonging?

The Trump Republicans are passionate and fierce about their MAGA identity. An identity that’s destructive and racist and oppressive. An identity that in so many ways just plain evil.

Why can’t the Democrats get fiercely passionate about…

Americans taking very, very good care of each other.

With no one left out.

I don’t see Joe Biden doing that. He’s too restrained.

But what if he allowed himself to become passionate, what if he was on fire with a message of caring, what if he became a force to reckon with in that way, would worries about his age diminish?

But I’m not holding my breath. People have been begging the Democrats to make this kind of change for decades and it hasn’t happened.

So then I look to activists. And I have this vision…

A network of activists who decide to work 100% on this need for belonging.  

For starters, they organize the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and progressive Independents and pull them together into a…

Trans-tribal political tribe.

One that’s inclusive. And deeply, relentlessly nurturing. And focused on the core needs of real people in their real lives.

And they develop a moral core for the tribe that people who are very different from each other can share, and share not just intellectually, but passionately.

And they work to make nurturance our national mission. Which would be great because our nation doesn’t have a mission and could use one.

And they work to make nurturance the soul of our country. Which we need because our country doesn’t have a soul.

And they give this tribe a name which is easy to say and remember and which people can feel proud to identify with.

Unfortunately, working on behalf of inclusion is gutsy and challenging. While indulging in tribal hate is easy and automatic.

Nurturance is a harder sell than rage, because it asks so much more of us. But…

We become so much more in responding to that ask.

2.7  Tribe matters more than truth

PS:
I like the idea of using a Venn diagram—overlapping circles—to illustrate what a trans–tribal tribe looks like.

Unlike the MAGAs, people don’t have to submerge themselves into the tribe. They don’t become clones of each other.

Instead they get to be true to themselves, they get to keep their own rich personalities, they get to do deep dives into their individual psyches.

But at the center where all the circles overlap, is the common moral core, the soul of the tribe, which everyone shares.

And which doesn’t diminish anyone but enlivens them.

Here’s a simple example of what I mean…