15th
When Republican voters are asked where Obama was born, many don’t approach it as a question of objective fact. They hear it as a test of tribal loyalty — do you side with Obama, or do you side with your fellow Republicans — and they answer it accordingly. Tribal loyalty trumps all, even if it means pledging loyalty to something that on its face is ridiculous. I think that happens on a lot of issues these days. Global warming is another. In 21st century America, global warming is not a scientific issue to be debated in terms of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere or the thickness of Arctic ice. It has become an issue of cultural allegiance. It is a tribal marker, a means of dividing us from them, and you can no more reason somebody into changing sides than you can reason a Yankee fan into rooting for the Red Sox. For that reason, it can never be resolved and compromise has become impossible.
