Tag: Where I Stood

The battle lines shift, and Keaton just keeps chopping. We take a break from our tasks, stand up, look around and wonder: Where am I? Even though I never identified very strongly with either of the two major political parties, at least I knew what I thought about the chief issues, and I knew what the battle lines were with regard to those issues. It’s not just that I don’t know whether I am liberal or conservative, it is that I no longer know what those terms mean. It used to be someone who believed in hard work, free markets, equal opportunity and standing up for the underdog. These issues still matter to people, but they are no longer the primary determinants of political identity. What really matters in politics today is social identity — not what you believe but what clan you belong to. Although I may be persuaded to change my beliefs, I cannot, in the same way, be persuaded to change my social identity. Identity politics undermines the basis for universal human rights. Identity politics makes ethics irrelevant.