# On Partisanship
**URL:** https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/on-partisanship/6472
**Category:** General Discussion
**Created:** [3 October 2026 17:06 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/on-partisanship/6472 "2026-10-03T17:06:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Gavin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Gavin)
#### Post date: [3 October 2026 17:06 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/on-partisanship/6472/1 "2026-10-03T17:06:04Z")
There has been some revived interest in Aldous Huxley’s 1952 book “_The Devils of Loudun_”, about some unpleasant events which took place in the small French town of Loudun in the 1600s. Huxley’s observations on partisanship are worth considering, relevant to today … just as they were to the French of the 1600s.
“_Partisan loyalty is socially disastrous; but for the individuals it can be richly rewarding — more rewarding, in many ways, than even concupiscence or avarice. Whoremongers and money-grubbers find it very hard to feel proud of their activities. But partisanship is a complex passion with permits those who indulge in it to make the best of both worlds. Because they do these things for the sake of a group which is, by definition, good and even sacred, they can admire themselves and loathe their neighbors, they can seek power and money, can enjoy the pleasures of aggression and cruelty, not merely without feeling guilty, but with a glow of conscious virtue. Loyalty to the group transforms these pleasant vices into acts of heroism_.”
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### Author:  [@pturmel](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/pturmel)
#### Post date: [3 October 2026 20:43 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/on-partisanship/6472/2 "2026-10-03T20:43:45Z")
> [@Gavin](#):
>
> do these things for the sake of a group which is, by definition, good and even sacred
And here’s the break. This may be true for some Democrats, but it certainly isn’t true for the rank and file Republicans that I know.
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### Author:  [@Citizen\_bitcoin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Citizen_bitcoin)
#### Post date: [4 October 2026 08:59 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/on-partisanship/6472/3 "2026-10-04T08:59:14Z")
what is your definition of ‘rank and file’? Serious question…
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### Author:  [@pturmel](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/pturmel)
#### Post date: [4 October 2026 13:38 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/on-partisanship/6472/4 "2026-10-04T13:38:36Z")
Low to medium attention voters who run mostly on inertia, with extra attention only paid in the run-up to elections.
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### Author:  [@Gavin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Gavin)
#### Post date: [4 October 2026 15:12 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/on-partisanship/6472/5 "2026-10-04T15:12:48Z")
From the context of Huxley’s writing, it seems that his negative observations on partisanship were not directed at those low attention voters who reliably vote the same way as their parents did. Rather, he was concerned with the much smaller group who devote themselves to a single issue – think the Global Warm-mongers or BLM – and imagine they are the vanguard who have recognized the most important truth in the world … a truth which has apparently escaped the attention of us hoi-polloi.
Unfortunately, those kinds of dedicated True Believers devote themselves to political action, and have an influence far in excess of their numbers.
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### Author:  [@civilwestman](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/civilwestman)
#### Post date: [4 October 2026 21:22 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/on-partisanship/6472/6 "2026-10-04T21:22:55Z")
> [@Gavin](#):
>
> have an influence far in excess of their numbers
Not because of the persuasive power of their positions. ONLY because of the endless amplification by their media fellow travelers. Where are the investigative journalists exposing this obvious fact when we need them? This corrupt and corrosive leverage would end quickly were it repeated a few dozen times.
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### Author:  [@Gavin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Gavin)
#### Post date: [4 October 2026 22:18 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/on-partisanship/6472/7 "2026-10-04T22:18:43Z")
> [@civilwestman](#):
>
> Not because of the persuasive power of their positions.
It has been argued that what these single-issue extremists bring to the party is dedication. Most of us are reluctant to attend a school board meeting or a candidate forum - we have lives! For the dedicated partisan, those kinds of fora are their lives. To give them their due, they are prepared to devote much of their time & energy to political activities.
And thus in a “democratic” system where candidates are selected by the small proportion of citizens who vote in primary elections, those partisans are seriously over-represented in political offices. We end up with the anomalous situation that elected “Representatives” are clearly not representative of the majority in their communities.
There are other flavors of democracy where that would not be the case.
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### Author:  [@Citizen\_bitcoin](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/Citizen_bitcoin)
#### Post date: [4 October 2026 23:01 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/on-partisanship/6472/8 "2026-10-04T23:01:20Z")
Sounds like most voters I know…