The political was defined once for all by Nazi Carl Schmitt:
The specific political distinction to which political actions and motives can be traced is the distinction between friend and enemy.
And the point about an enemy is that conflict is possible, and conflict can lead to killing.
Schmitt's notion has been simplified by Curtis Yarvin, who has written: "there is no politics without an enemy."
Ancient humans weren't really tribal; they lived in a world of kindred: every person known to them was related to them by blood.
But when humans began to live in communities large enough that they didn't know everyone they have become tribal. They invented a bond between them that replaced the old bonds of blood relationship.
Thus, I maintain, all tribes are "fake tribes." They constitute an imagined relationship, a kinship of being the same kind of people, rather than the people of one blood.
Tribes are typically formed by the brothers-in-arms who have fought a successful war. Their leader is the new lord, and the brothers-in-arms are the members of the new tribe. The ubiquitous tribe of our time is the nation state. The nation is the tribe of the middle class.
Every human society is hierarchical, and we know why. It is because hierarchy is nature's way of minimizing conflict. Over the years, humans have come to think of society as a Three Layered hierarchy. Viking society was composed of Earls, Peasants and Thralls (slaves). Roman society? Patricians, Plebeians, and Slaves. Today's society, according to Curtis Yarvin, is composed of Gentry, Commoners, and Clients. The alternative is just to think of "us" and "them." But that means conflict.
Among men, according to James Bowman in Honor: A History, honor is the reputation for courage. Among women, honor is the reputation for chastity. Obviously, in politics, the reputation for courage is paramount, for the political leader is nothing if he is not leading his friends against the enemy.
Female honor, chastity, or always doing the right thing, is problematic in politics, and that is probably why women are problematic in politics. Women expect to be protected, but the point of the political leader is to lead his tribe into danger.
Every young educated person wants to be an "activist," fighting for the oppressed against the oppressors. But this is a fantasy, similar to the medieval romance of the late medieval age, that celebrated knights riding their chargers to rescue damsels in distress and search for the Holy Grail. Knightly orders were invented during the Crusades to go to the Holy Land and protect the pilgrims from maurauders. In our day the "activist" is acting the rule of revolutionary of the good old days of the Enlightenement when educated intellectuals were inveighing against the monstrosities of the absolute monarchs.
No politician ever takes the blame. He cannot, for he is the brave leader of his people leading them to victory against the enemy. And to fail in that is to be defeated in a humiliating battle against the enemy and condemning his people to oblivion.
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