Politics Permeates Every Aspect of American Life

Politicization is the watchword of our American culture as we head into 2021.  If something, regardless of how cut and dried, can take on a political spin, that’s exactly what will happen–as asinine as that may seem to outsiders.

Obviously, the political parties have lined up around social issues, at least since I can remember from my childhood: abortion, the death penalty, gay rights, war and conscientious objection, tax rates, social services, immigration, forced integration, etc.  Yet no one would have thought that matters of science, e.g., climate change and epidemiology, even the shape of the Earth, could form political attachments.

Below is legendary cartoonist and social critic Garry Trudeau’s take on this.

FWIW, I occasionally have the same experience as Mike Doonesbury has here, living as I do in a small rural community.  I refer to the local liquor shop as the “COVID store,” because so many people refuse to wear masks, and altercations sometimes ensue.