We Cannot Afford To Treat Our Political Party As Our Football Team

You probably know at least one extreme fan of a football team. Can you picture that person? Supporting your sports team and showing loyalty even when your team is having a stinky losing season is a common occurrence.  Think about the New Orleans Saints NFL team. Their fans have endured many stinky losing seasons. Yes, the Saints won the Super Bowl in 2009, but many of their 58 seasons, up to the date of this writing, have been lots of downs and a few ups.  “In 1980, the Saints lost their first 14 games, prompting local sportscaster Bernard ‘Buddy D’ Diliberto to advise Saints supporters to wear paper bags over their heads at the team's home games; many bags rendered the club's name as the ‘Aint’s' rather than the ‘Saints.’ The practice of wearing a bag over one's head then spread rapidly, first to fans of other poorly performing teams within the NFL, and ultimately to those of other American team sports, and has become a firmly established custom throughout the United States” (qtd. in https://sports.answers.com/team-sports/The_New_Orleans_Saints'_difficulties_in_1980_caused_fans_to_refer_to_them_by_the_nickname_Aints).  I know lots of Saints fans and they remain loyal no matter what.  That’s fine for football teams, but not for political parties.

Of course, there are a few similarities between being a fan your favorite football team and being of the political party you chose:

• Group Identity: Both football fans and political party members often form strong group identities. Fans rally around their teams, while party members unite under shared ideologies and goals. Fans of their football teams and fans of some political parties wear fan hats and clothing; part of their identity as a human being is linked with their team or party.

• Passionate Loyalty: Both groups exhibit intense loyalty. Fans support their teams through wins and losses, similar to how party members remain loyal to their party, even during times when their party is clearly ‘off.’

• Rituals and Traditions: Football fans engage in rituals like chants and tailgating, while political parties have traditions such as rallies and conventions that foster community and commitment.

• Conflict and Rivalry: Both can experience conflict, whether through rivalries between teams or partisan disputes. This can lead to heightened emotions and division within and between groups. ‘Us’ vs. ‘Them’ is part of their way of communicating.

Significant psychological effects on individuals and groups are present when people treat their chosen political party as they do their favorite football team. Some positive effects may be experienced:

• Community and Belonging: Football fans often feel a sense of belonging to a larger community, which can enhance social support and reduce feelings of loneliness. The same can happen in being in a political party.

• Emotional Release: Engaging with sports can provide an outlet for emotions, allowing fans to express joy, frustration, and excitement. Likewise, engaging in lively political debate can be enjoyable for some people.

• Identity Formation: Fandom can contribute to personal identity, with fans often identifying strongly with their team or political party, which can boost self-esteem.

But, there are devastatingly negative effects that may be experienced:

• Aggression and Violence: In some cases, intense fandom for teams or political parties can lead to aggressive behavior.

• Disappointment and Anxiety: The emotional investment in a team or in a political party can lead to significant disappointment and anxiety, particularly during critical seasons.

• Escapism: While sports and politics could provide a healthy distraction, excessive fandom may lead to avoidance of real-life issues, refusing to see facts because of emotional attachment.

There are obvious problems with people and groups seeing political parties the same as football teams:

• It often ignores facts / feelings: The facts aren’t acknowledging your feelings; your feelings aren’t acknowledging the facts.

• It prioritizes loyalty over critical thinking. In sports, loyalty is encouraged, no matter what.  In politics, this mindset can lead to blind allegiance in which people support their “team” even when it goes against their values, facts, and the public good. It discourages evaluating each issue/candidate/set of policies on its merits.

•  It turns politics into a zero-sum game:  Football is about one side winning and the other losing.  In a functioning Constitutional Republic, such as the USA had been, compromise and cooperation are essential.  Treating politics like a game makes compromise look like betrayal instead of progress.

• It fuels polarization and tribalism: When people adopt an ‘us vs them’ mindset, the opposing party becomes the enemy rather than fellow citizens with different views. This mindset can dehumanize opponents and that shuts down healthy dialogue and increases hostility.

• It undermines accountability: Fans often excuse bad behavior from their team, while attacking the same behavior in the opposing team. In politics, this leads to double standards - defending corruption, lies, or incompetence from one’s own party, while vilifying the other side for similar offenses.

• It ignores values: For example, if you have a personally held value that all children are worthy of love, care, food, educational opportunities, safety but you support political policies and leaders who oppose those values, then you are a hypocrite for the cause of blindly supporting those policies and leaders.

• It distracts from policy and governance: Political debate becomes about “owning” the other side or “winning” the next election, not solving real and shared community / cultural /environmental / global problems.  Voters focus more on personalities, scandals, or partisan battles than on issues like healthcare, climate, education, or the economy.

• It reduces citizens to spectators:In sports, fans watch from the sidelines.  In a Constitutional Republic, citizens are supposed to be active participants, not passive cheerleaders.  Treating politics like a football game undermines civic responsibility - like voting, staying informed, voicing dissent in peaceful / productive ways, and holding leaders accountable.

Unfortunately, the, “'United States’ feels like something of a misnomer these days, as the U.S. seems to be more [and more the ‘Divided States’]. Political polarization has increased as each side views the other side with growing levels of disdain. For many of us, on both the ‘Left' and the ‘Right,’ [we want] more ‘United”'back to our United States... more ‘Us’ back into our ‘U.S.’ Importantly, we cannot just blame the Right or the Left. The root of the problem may be that there is a Right and a Left. While [many] people share the same core values to some extent, according to Moral Foundations Theory, ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatives’ differ in how they weigh these different values. Some of these values include care, fairness, and liberty. Importantly, our values and moral beliefs are often based more on sentiment than reason. We tend to use reason, logic, and data post-hoc (or after the fact) to support our sentiments. Once we divide into our value-based tribes, each side clings to their respective ‘truths’ as if they were the gospel. From an evolutionary standpoint, loyalty to our group, our tribe, was fundamental to our survival. Changing political views, in effect, means changing tribes. It is very difficult to convince people to leave their tribe because, historically, that often meant death. Rather than seeing ‘truth’ [and facts], we distort reality in a way that allows us to maintain tribal loyalty” (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/tech-happy-life/202009/how-politics-is-rooting-our-favorite-sports-team).

While I do follow a few football teams, my personal identity is not tied to them.  I’m not a democrat, a republican, an independent, or the member of any other political party.  I’m registered ‘ No Party Affiliation’ because I’m a free, critical thinker and my identity is tied to my values, not to the whims of a political party. By the way, the grip of looming fascism depends on people holding on to their “team” no matter what. If you’re unsure what ‘fascism’ is, please read my post from 2023: https://www.reimaginelifecoach.com/post/fascism-what-is-it-good-for .

We are not playing a game; the stakes are much higher than what football team wins the Super Bowl. For more on understanding why some people will not ‘change teams’ even when overwhelming evidence suggests it would be prudent to do so, please read my post on the sunk-cost fallacy: https://reimaginelifecoach.com/so/3dPV-kvyO?languageTag=en. I invite you to share your stories, thoughts, insights, and suggestions by either commenting below this post if you are reading this on social media, or, if you are reading this through your email subscription, please share, by emailing me, at reimaginelife22@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading and participating in this blog essay; I invite you to subscribe to my blog at www.reimaginelifecoach.com.