Not too long ago, a good friend and I were discussing the conflicts in the Middle East.
“Dee, we have got to do something about all the killing that is going on in the Middle East.”
“Bob, you’re not going to be able to stop the killing because it’s been going on for 10,000 years because of tribalism.”
Jonah Goldberg wrote an excellent column for the Tribune Content Agency on Nov. 29, 2017, titled “Pelosi’s Double Standard: An Example of Shameless Partisanship.” In the column, he wrote the following statement: “We live in the moment beset by tribalism, from partisanship to myriad forms of identity politics. All of them work on the assumption that neutral rules are unfair or unjust because my tribe is somehow especially noble and your tribe is especially evil.”
Nobody is doubting that tribes do perform a useful purpose. Take, for example, the cavemen who joined together to take down a wooly mammoth so that the tribe could have food. Another good example is the tribe that Martin Luther King Jr. put together to bring about civil rights for all African Americans. Tribalism is always here; but at times, it just might go bonkers.
There is new tribe in town that goes by the name “Never Trumpers.” It seems like everywhere I go I now run into the “Never Trumpers.” Haranguing our president, though, is not the answer. Getting Democrats and Republicans, straights and gays, different religious orders, millennials and the elderly together to limit Trump is just the right thing to do.
I lived through the impeachments of Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton and the country does not need to be torn apart again. Invoking the 25th Amendment, as columnists and congressmen are saying now, is not the answer. Instead, just take away Trump’s bully pulpit and ignore him.
Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post said in a Nov 29, 2017, column, “If Trump really believes what he saying, we must use the 25th Amendment.” The 25th Amendment allows the cabinet to remove a president in case of a disability. This is a good example of what I am talking about. Obviously, Rubin is a member in good standing of the “Never Trumpers” media tribe.
Rubin said that “the Cabinet has an obligation to determine if the president is so impaired that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Yes, the Cabinet does have the power to remove the president, but again is this the right thing to do?
The conflicts in the Middle East are still raging and I see no solution to the problem that tribalism is causing. Just like the caveman who craved food, the Middle East tribes crave oil. Oil will provide the leaders of the Middle East tribes with good food; nice cars; elaborate villas; and many, many wives. Oil will also cause nations like the U.S. to go to war.
Tribalism in America is causing the love for our country and lately, if you take issue with a tribe, it is an extremely precarious endeavor. Just look at the violence on college campuses when a right-wing speaker appears. There has been violence or destructive protest at Claremont McKenna College, Middlebury College, University of Chicago, UC Berkeley, the University of Washington, UC Davis and the University of Utah.
Our founding fathers were suspicious of tribalism and they tried to construct a new society that protected the individual rights of all Americans and, of course, they failed. The Civil War, where the slave tribe fought the non-slave tribe, cost America 620,000 lives, or roughly 2 percent of its population.
One great attraction of tribalism is that you don’t have to think very much. All you need to know is what side of the issues you are on and you can then go on your merry way. Somehow, we must unwind the increasingly dangerous tribal dysfunction.
Robert Pembroke is the former chairman and CEO of Pembroke’s Inc. in Salt Lake City.