This is interesting to me because more than when I first became aware of public policy in the 80s, political differences are more rabid today but less focused on specific issues like government spending or foreign policy.

The article has a tool to predict your party affiliation and a very easy-to-follow diagram of how it works. It predicted I have a 93% chance of voting Democratic.

I’m posting it because it made me question even further the whole concept of political party. None of the basic demographic questions come close to philosophical issues like the proper role of gov’t, the virtue of selfishness (to coin a phrase), the nature of rights, whether I think civilized behavior comes more from stories/education or from a leviathan with a monopoly on force.

It makes me think we desperately need some philosophy in public discourse. Reading this made me think of Sen Ben Sasse’s books, which say loneliness leads to tribalism, which downs out reason.

Seeing this chart, though, drove it home for me. Policy is important, esp with looming problems like debt-funded spending supported by having a major reserve currency. I can see people really going ape where there’s a fiscal crisis. Yet in the world of politics, it’s about trivial demographic issues. I’m hoping this trend has it it’s high-water mark, and we get more philosophical before the next crisis.