In the interest of elaborating what I think is an interesting and somewhat different perspective on electoral politics, I’m going to assume that within the United States political divide, Democrats tend to be Proceduralists while Republicans tend to be Nationalists. This was especially true during the Obama-Trump era, when obstruction of procedures became the primary strategy for Republicans while Democrats stubbornly stuck to the ideals of procedure up to Michelle Obama’s famous When They Go Low, We Go High statement during the failed Hillary Clinton campaign.
While Donald Trump decided to ruthlessly call out his enemies and build coalitions around common hatreds, Clinton stayed away from dirty tricks and stuck to her professionalism and know-how. At least, that’s how the Democrats tend to see it. Lofty ideals like bipartisanship, compromise, and decorum may or may not be followed in practice, but for the sake of argument I’m going to take the Democratic party’s rhetoric at face value. I’m less familiar with the Republican side of things, but I’ll also take their rhetoric about liberals hating America and their intense love of nation at face value. What’s more interesting to me than the politics is the philosophy, so that’s what I’m going to explore.
