Quick Guide to American Politics

In retrospect Sandy Hook marked the end of the US gun control debate. Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over.

Dan Hodges 

This was posted on Twitter, and the replies help to answer the question of how Americans can find even the most horrible of things bearable.  The whole discussion of "gun rights" is a template for how Americans are capable of ignoring just about anything that happens . . . to other people.

Basically, Americans have been trained to come up with an argument instead of seek a solution.  Most people, especially on the internet, seem to think they work in Public Relations.  Once they have "scored points," their job is done.  No need for any of the tools of the competent, such as focus on an issue, building models by making predictions and experiments, or follow-up.

The tactics most used in the replies to the Hodges tweet are deflection and ad hominem.  Also, to the former citizen, now turned PR worker, words are either warm and fuzzy or cold and prickly (credit JMG for the concept).  If we can associate our brand with enough warm fuzzies and throw enough cold pricklies at the other brand we can expand market share.  This is the real game.  Principles, on the other hand, are just another consumer good, to be used when and how the buyer wishes.

Our politics make for a team-sport, allowing for a group-level reworking of a Narcissist's Prayer

That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not [our] fault.
And if it was, [we] didn't mean it.
And if [we] did...
You deserved it.

And this is the toolbox that makes America the wealthiest failed state in history, a point made in this article by Umair Haque in 2018.  There is no social problem that can embarrass the average American voter; instead, they will just consume a scapegoat narrative and deflect the issue entirely).   The real  pain they try to avoid is that of political loss.  As someone once said, "Narcissists don't feel guilt, only shame." [1]  Because of this, I go back to the Haque article:

American[s] appear to be quite happy simply watching one another die, in all the ways above. They just don’t appear to be too disturbed, moved, or even affected by the four pathologies above: their kids killing each other, their social bonds collapsing, being powerless to live with dignity,or having to numb the pain of it all away.

You want to think the Democrats are better than this?  1) Their politicians aren't and 2) not even a working majority of their primary voters are.  All sorts of Americans are comfortable with the notion that bad things can happen to others as long as "I've got mine."

We'll see if a politics of problem solving develops over the next decade or two. I have my doubts, but would love to be surprised.

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[1] Read this better TLP piece on what I call Standard American Narcissism  (STan).

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Postscript: I see this as an instance of the broader pattern described here.