Political Polarization

All of us have an inherent desire to be part of something bigger than ourselves. This is why communities band together to accomplish great things, why people donate their hard earned money to religions and causes, and why societies have built glorious structures and edifices still standing today. But what happens when people don’t have something to be part of? What do people do when there is no problem to rally around and fix?

With certain groups of people there are inherent problems or causes that require consistent banding together. Some of these causes help everyone in society and some of these inconvenience others. If we look to the two polarizations defined in this blog as being ‘those who believe in God (or a supreme being)’ and ‘those who don’t', there are many causes that lend themselves to one side or the other.

The main cause for those who believe in a God is that of sin and unhappiness. Most religions believe that man is in a fallen and sinful state, which causes unhappiness. Religions are established for the purpose of helping man return to the presence of God (Heaven) and be redeemed from their sins. In the process of taking steps towards redemption and Heaven (or some kind of exalted state) followers are taught to make decisions that will bring them happiness here and now in this life. Most religious people see their religion as a cause bigger than themselves. First, because the religion is bringing redemption to people, second because it is guiding people to happiness in their current lives, and third because sharing a religion with others is bringing the first two benefits to even more people. This is why many people are involved with missionary programs sharing the happiness that they have found with others. Most people on the ‘believing God side’ of America’s Political Polarization find fulfillment to the “something bigger than themselves” need by being involved in their churches. This includes sharing their views with others, helping out their communities through service, and contributing to those in need in other nations through church donations.

Those who don’t believe in God (or a supreme being) don’t have such an obvious way to fulfill the “something bigger than themselves” need. They therefore have to be much more creative in order to fulfill that basic human need. Two of the biggest ways of doing this is being involved in politics and activism. This allows people to be part of a larger progressive political movement that involves helping out the needy of the world, fixing the problems in our country, and making good moral decisions for the nation. Many people push these agendas strongly because they feel that they will make life better for everyone, make things more fair, and not impede on the pursuit of happiness of others. But still, people can often become consumed over following and promoting these causes because it fulfills that basic human need of “being part of something bigger than themselves”.

But, what happens when, like mentioned earlier, there isn’t something to be fixed? What if everyone was religious and didn’t need to be preached to? What if the progressive political movement got its way? Would people stop preaching or stop being activists? No, they would find something else to rally behind. The scary thing is that this basic human need can often cause us to rally behind damaging things like cults and political reform that hurts everyone else. Sometimes we need to stop and take a look at why we are rallying behind a cause. Is it because it is something with merit that should be pushed and will better mankind and the human condition, or is it simply a means for us to selfishly fulfill that basic human need of “being part of something bigger than ourselves”?