I’m supposed to be packing because moving vans come tomorrow, but I had to remark on this story in the Washington Post: Most Calif. blacks backed proposition 8: 53% of Latinos Also Supported Proposition 8 In it, Vick and Surdin write: LOS ANGELES, Nov. 6 -- Any notion that Tuesday's election represented a liberal juggernaut must overcome a detail from the voting booths of California: The same voters who turned out strongest for Barack Obama also drove a stake through the heart of same-sex marriage. This makes me extraordinarily curious about the rationale these voters had on this issue.  Is it religious?  Or is it that we all need to “other” somebody?  A huge body of research talks about intergroup conflict, group affiliation, and the need to establish clear boundaries of others to affirm our own groupness.  This is the same tribalism I talked about in the last post. I question if it is every possible to overcome this because biologically we’re driven to form … [Read more...]