The Myth of Left and Right with Hyrum Lewis and Verlan Lewis

My guests today are Hyram and Verlan Lewis. Hyram and Verlan are brothers. Hyram is an associate professor of history at Brigham Young University, Idaho, and Verlan is a political scientist at Harvard Center for American Political Studies. Together, Hyram and Verlan have written a very interesting new book called "The Myth of Left and Right: How the Political Spectrum Misleads and Harms America"

​​​​​​​In this book, they challenge the widely held belief that the political left and right represent two distinct philosophies, liberalism or progressivism on one end and conservatism on the other. Instead, they argue that people on the left and the right are more like sports fans. They are born into a particular tribe and then they adopt the random assortment of beliefs that tribe currently holds. Now they acknowledge that there are such things as political philosophies, like libertarianism, for example. They just think those philosophies have nothing to do with what we call the left and the right in everyday speech. In other words, the words left and right do not name philosophies. They name arbitrary tribes that then invent convenient, but false stories about what their philosophies are. That thesis is the topic of this conversation and I think it's very interesting. I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.

Check out Hyrum and Verlan's New Book: "The Myth of Left and Right: How the Political Spectrum Misleads and Harms America" - https://bit.ly/3qwpoE2

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"The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America" - https://bit.ly/48VUw17

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Chapters:
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:39 Discussing Political Tribalism
00:06:42 Challenging The Left-right Framework In Politics
00:12:08 The Influence Of Birth And Heredity On Ideology
00:13:53 The Influence Of Tribal Association On Political Alignment And Beliefs
00:18:18 Left And Right Thinking: A Social Construct
00:21:45 The Influence Of Socialization On Political Beliefs
00:27:42 The Two Fundamental Ways Of Thinking: Understanding Political Divide
00:31:23 Mischaracterisations Of Left And Right Political Ideologies
00:35:18 The Unique Political Landscape In Puerto Rico And Israel
00:41:56 Biased Study On Disgust Factors Misses Key Perspectives
00:44:32 Switching Ideological Tribes: Exceptions That Prove The Rule
00:47:50 The Republican Party's Shift Towards Big Government
00:53:16 The Shifting Definition Of Right Wing In American Politics
00:55:38 Lack Of Empirical Data And Historical Context In Assessing Public Opinion On Covid Policy
01:01:06 The Misconception Of A Singular Philosophical Connection In Politics
01:04:35 The Myth Of Left Vs. Right: Parties As Philosophies
01:09:35 Navigating Political Conversations In A Divided Society
01:12:07 Embracing Humility And Rejecting Political Dichotomies For Scout-like Engagement
01:14:36 Finding Common Ground And Moving Beyond

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