Ch 1.4 | 🧫'Politics are downstream of culture'

If, as the Breitbart Doctrine suggests, “politics are downstream of culture" and, therefore, "to change politics one must first change culture," is it any wonder that our politicians continue to spend their time fanning the flames of the culture war rather than fixing the system?

Back in 2016, David French wrote in the National Review:

But the true battle for our country isn’t political, it’s cultural and spiritual. ... Our nation can survive lost elections, but over the long term it cannot survive a decayed culture.

Thanks to the 24-hour news cycle and the media's relentless pursuit of ratings and clicks, our culture has become preoccupied with partisan politics and divisiveness.

Politics has, in a way, become a sort of new religion in America, one with its own take on interfaith unions.

Back in 2012, The Atlantic examined a pair of surveys in a post titled, "Really, Would You Let Your Daughter Marry a Democrat?" Among the data cited:

1. In 1960, approximately 5% of Americans expressed a negative reaction to interparty marriage.

2. In 2010 (long before the rise of Trump), that was up to approximately 40% (Republicans about 50%, Democrats about 30%).

Could you ever have imagined that political dogma would define our culture?! At least Americans’ attitudes about interracial marriage have improved dramatically in the past 30 years. In the chapter entitled "Race in America" I do discuss a lot of issues. It's a very challenging subject to write about.

I want to be transparent and admit that in exploring some of the challenges we face, I have viewed them through a party/partisan lens. While I do believe that in the long run no single candidate, party or policy will solve the problems we are facing, I felt it was worth the time to include discussions of some of the most important challenges we currently face — not necessarily to proffer potential solutions, but instead to encourage others to reflect on the current partisan approaches to the issues through the lens of fairness. I did it with the knowledge that fixing the system is going to take time — time we don't necessarily have. As such, who we elect matters now more than ever. Unfortunately, given our current political system, we will have limited choices if we're seeking to find leaders willing to put country over party.