The U.S. was founded on the idea that government exists to serve its people. To do this, the government must deliver services that promote the common good. When the government shuts down, it fails to meet its fundamental purpose.
While government shutdowns are not new in the U.S., most have lasted less than a week. This most recent shutdown had the distinction of being the longest in the history of the nation.
When the government shuts down for such a long time, it inflicts hardships, anxieties and irritations on its citizens. You might wonder why elected officials allow lengthy disruptions to happen.
It is common to blame the politicians. However, as a philosopher who researches democracy, I think the fault lies also with us, the citizens. In a democracy, we generally get the politics we ask for, and the electorate has developed a taste for political spectacle over competent leadership.
American democracy has grown increasingly tribal, leading us to become more invested in punishing our partisan rivals than in demanding competent government.
Understandably, politicians have embraced obstruction. They have learned that deadlock can pay because they have the support of their voters in behaving this way. Politics is no longer about representation and policy; it’s now about vanquishing and even humiliating the other side.
Let’s distinguish two kinds of polarization.
First is political polarization. It measures the divide between the U.S.’s two major parties. When political polarization is severe, the common ground among the parties falls away. This naturally undermines cooperation.
But that’s not the entire story. As I argue in my book “Civic Solitude,” the deeper trouble has to do with belief polarization.
That’s when like-minded people transform into more extreme versions of themselves: Liberals become more liberal, conservatives become more conservative, Second Amendment advocates become more pro-gun, environmentalists become more green.
Importantly, this shift is driven by the desire to fit in with one’s peers, not by evidence or reason. Hence, we become more fervent but no better informed.
Additionally, our more extreme selves are also more tribal and conformist. We become more antagonistic toward outsiders. We also become more insistent on uniformity, less tolerant of differences.
In the U.S. today, liberals and conservatives are heavily socially segregated. As everyday life becomes politically saturated, politics itself becomes more about lifestyle and less about policy. Research suggests that while animosity across the parties has intensified significantly, citizens’ disagreements over policy have either remained stable or eased. We dislike one another more intensely yet are not more divided.
This condition incentivizes politicians to amplify their contempt for political rivals. Politicians seek to win elections, and stoking negative feelings such as fear and indignation are potent triggers of political behavior, including voting.
Consequently, when citizens are belief polarized, animosity and obstruction become winning electoral strategies. Meanwhile, politicians are released from the task of serving the common good.
The Republicans, who hold the congressional majority, sought to score points by depicting the shutdown as the Democrats’ fault.
At the beginning of the shutdown, House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed that there was “literally nothing to negotiate” with congressional Democrats.
But there’s the rub. Democratic government is fundamentally a matter of negotiation. Neither winning an election nor being a member of the majority party means that you can simply call the shots.
Thanks to polarization, however, the noble ideals of political give-and-take have dissolved. Cooperation is now seen as surrender to political enemies.
The key to avoiding this kind of failure is to become a citizenry that demands competent government over partisan domination.
Robert B. Talisse is a professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University. Distributed by The Conversation and The Associated Press.
