Ayn Rand Institute | Why No One Wins from Today’s Tribal Political Battles @AynRandInstitute | Uploaded February 2024 | Updated October 2024, 1 week ago.
In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the problem of tribalism in our political culture. Exploring issues such as the Israel-Hamas war and the debates over immigration and abortion, they show how both the left and right are guilty of an anti-conceptual mentality that has degraded our political discourse.

Among the topics covered:
• How tribalism has made today's political atmosphere toxic;
• The left's tribal support for Palestine;
• How the tribal mentality is motivated by opposition to a common enemy, not shared principles;
• The right's tribal fearmongering on immigration;
• How tribalism has infiltrated the issue of abortion on both sides;
• How attacks on reason fuel today's groupthink;
• What ARI does to take a principled philosophical stance on political issues.

Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essays “Global Balkanization” (courses.aynrand.org/works/global-balkanization/) and “The Missing Link,” (amazon.com/Philosophy-Needs-Rand-Library-Vol/dp/0451138937?tag=aynrandorgcampus-20) Bayer’s talk “Tribalism in Today’s Political Culture,” (youtu.be/oViq0IclQ78) and Sotirakopoulos’ book Identity Politics and Tribalism: The New Culture Wars. (amazon.com/Identity-Politics-Tribalism-Culture-Societas/dp/1788360621)

The podcast was recorded on February 14, 2024.

0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:31 Tribalism and political atmosphere
0:08:51 The left’s support for Palestine
0:15:23 Tribal mentality’s motivation
0:20:50 The right’s fearmongering on immigration
0:29:19 Tribalism and abortion
0:39:26 Attacks on reason
0:51:08 ARI’s principled stance