Politics Shouldn't Be 'Coded'
It just hurts all of us
The Bryan Caplan distinction between left and right where the left is anti-market and the right is anti-left made sense in a world where both parties are at least sort of grounded in reality, but it no longer does. Now, strangely, the two parties have converged on very similar populist economic policies, but they are diverging on literally everything else.
The left is now just protectionism and anti-right, and the right is now just protectionism and anti-left. Everything is now ‘right-coded’ or ‘left-coded’.
Take fitness. If I described a mid-20s dude who pounds weights, protein shakes, and raw milk, what do you think his politics would be? You’re probably picturing a MAGA freak, and that is why fitness is now extremely right-coded.
Ok, but if the right is so into fitness, that would probably mean they are into vaccines, right? After all, the reason you work out is so you can stay healthy. Vaccines are also good at keeping you healthy. Yeah, nope. Even though the Covid vaccines were invented under Trump, Democrats got the vaccine in much larger numbers. Why? Because getting the vaccine became left-coded.
What about fertility? If the left is (rightly) into vaccines because they save lives, then shouldn’t they also be invested in getting people to have more kids? It’s not like there’s much difference between saving a life and creating a new one. But, instead, it’s been right-coded and progressives are basically ignoring it.
On the topic of saving lives, what about climate change? Shouldn’t we all be working to avert one of our only potential existential threats? Nope. Instead, caring about climate change as a whole has been left-coded, the best form of energy in nuclear energy has been right-coded, the second-best form of energy in renewables has been left-coded, and EVs have been left-coded.
I can go on, but you get the point. Coding issues this way just hurts all of us. The parties can disagree, but they at least need to be grounded in reality. Physical health, vaccines, and nuclear energy really shouldn’t be controversial issues. And they aren’t controversial now because of their merits. They are controversial because the side not based in reality doesn’t want to ‘lose’ a point.
If we continue down this ridiculous path, then it will become awfully hard to get anything done.