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On the All Star Game and How Replacing Religion With Politics is Making Us All Miserable
On Monday, Gallup announced that for the first time in the eight decades they’ve measured it, less than half of Americans are members of a house of worship (church, synagogue, or mosque) – down from 70% in 1999. Friday, Major League Baseball announced it was yanking this year’s All Star Game and MLB Draft from Atlanta to punish the state for passing SB 202, the Election Integrity Act of 2021.
In my mind, these two stories are related. Allow me to explain:
It’s no secret political polarization is increasing in American. A 2014 Pew Research study demonstrated how Republicans and Democrats have grown apart over the years, and there’s no doubt they are further apart since the publication of this study. It’s not only on differences of opinion about how best to solve issues we face, Republicans and Democrats view their political opponents as dangerous. These feelings intensify among the more politically active as Pew reports “…the most ideologically oriented and politically rancorous Americans make their voices heard through greater participation in every stage of the political process.”
In addition, among people who are active politically…
Political volunteers, for example, are less embedded in the social and communal environments that produce trust and social capital. They are more than twice as likely as ordinary Americans, and three times more likely than religious Americans, to say “rarely” or “never” when asked if there are people they feel close to. They are five times more likely than religious joiners to say they rarely or never have someone they can turn to in times of need. And they are also more likely than other joiners to say their relationships are superficial.
Lacking regular community, political joiners compensate ideologically. Eighty-seven percent report that their ideology gives them a sense of community, compared to 63 percent of ordinary Americans. They also derive a stronger sense of community from people or groups on social media than the general population (62 percent vs. 48 percent).
If political joiners are less connected to other communal environments and more likely to find community among their ideological peers, it should be no surprise political joiners begin demanding other institutions, such as major corporations or sports leagues, conform to the ideology that brings them comfort.
We see this play out on the right and the left. Think about the move by Trump supporters away from Fox News to other networks deemed more loyal to the former President. This was a demand for ideological purity. Which brings us to Friday’s action by Major League Baseball.
Opponents of SB 202 have been demanding corporations take action against Georgia for passing the bill. Stacey Abrams went so far as to explain how “businesses can redeem themselves” (an odd word to use during Holy Week, but perhaps not so odd anymore given the decline in church membership). Are we then surprised MLB took the action they did? A powerful group of political activists demanded action be taken, and in order to curry favor with these activists, action was taken. It wasn’t however, the action Abrams demanded, so perhaps redemption will not be granted in this case, but the proverbial cat is out of the bag, unlikely to be put back in anytime soon.
The bad news for conservatives in all this is that Conquest’s Second Law of Politics seems to be more accurate than anyone could have imagined. Robert Conquest theorized that “Any organization not explicitly and constitutionally right-wing will sooner or later become left-wing.” Thus, conservatives looking for corporate leaders to stand up to the Left’s political joiners will likely be disappointed time and again.
There is hope, however, “…the nonprofit More in Common found in 2018 that 93 percent of Americans say they are tired of how divided we have become as a country. Large majorities say privately that they believe in the importance of compromise, reject the absolutism of the extreme wings of both parties and are not motivated by partisan loyalty.”
Perhaps it’s time for the 93% to tell the 7% to stand down.
Published in Sports
I would say that first the 93% must devote some attention to those things that are dividing the 7%.
I’m yanking my eyes from MLB, joining the NFL and NHL.
( my wallet follows)
I don’t believe this.
If you take a look at America’s surviving “little platoons,” you’ll see an unbroken sea of wokeness. With the exception of some churches (and only some), almost all social and civic institutions are run by and populated by the left — not the “Burn it all down! Soak the rich!” left, but the middle-class-to-elite “I’m so sorry for my whiteness!” virtue-signaling left.
I don’t doubt that social isolation drives some people into bona fide activism. But it’s precisely those who do have social capital — and who’ve bought the activists’ ideas — who are ruining America.
93% think the other people should do what I, the reasonable one, want.
7% of people are self-aware.
I don’t think it was a demand for purity by Trump supporters as much as it was voting with the remote . . .
I do know one thing: hyper partisan politics makes you miserable. You are in a state of perpetual outrage directed towards not only our politicians but each other. And all of our institutions are egging us on constantly. Then they have the nerve to tell us that we are more divided than ever and clutch their pearls over acts of racial and political violence.
it reminds me of all the documentaries on shark week. Every one spends the first 55 minutes showing us scenes of graphic violence and savagery of sharks against their prey and humans and reminding us they are the perfect killing machines. Then they spend 5 minutes telling us that sharks have more to fear from humans than the other way around. Too late.
Outstanding post.
You are crediting a lot of people with thinking.
I, for one, am tired of the wokesters who are trying to take over the Democratic Party, and the Trumpsters who are refusing to let the Republican Party move on past the disaster of Trump. If I had it all my way, the Democrats would throw off the wokesters, and the Republican Party would throw off the Trumpsters.
It will be interesting to see what comes out of TX-6 which is having a open primary on May 1st with woke Dems, traditional Dems, Trumpy Republicans and at least one Post-Trump (or NAT) Republican all in the mix. I am pulling for the Republican who broke with Trump after the November election, and Trump’s Big Lie.
To heck with the Stacey Abrams woke Dems. To heck with the Trumpy Republicans who cannot accept that Trump lost, and who are beating the drums on the un-American “Stop the Steal.” I stand with the 93% who are neither woke, nor Trumpy. This silent majority needs to be heard from again.
Major League Baseball requires a photo ID to pick up will call tickets
Spectator suppression.
It’s important, in order to evaluate the question and answer significance of this poll, to know what portion of the general population falls into the category described by political volunteers. I have always had a sense that Leftists, and those leaning that way (Progressives) tend to be more active politically than conservatives. I don’t have proof of this but I think it would affect the poll result, if true, and give the result a different meaning. Conservatives, on the other hand, tend to do their activism in religious and charitable causes.