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craftsmen, and tradesmen. When populations became too large for informal means of social control (such as gossip and shunning), religion and government evolved as social watchdogs and enforcers of the rules.15 Both conservatives and liberals agree that society needs rules, but for most behaviors conservatives prefer more private regulation through religion, community, and family while liberals favor more public regulation through government (except for sexual mores, when the opposite is the case). The problem with both institutions is that our moral minds also evolved to unite us into teams, divide us against other teams, and convince ourselves that we are right and other groups are wrong. This fact has had dire consequences, from December 7, 1941, to September 11, 2001.

My favorite example of the tension created by these differences comes from the 1992 film A Few Good Men, which I think well illustrates the conservative-liberal differences in moral foundations. In the courtroom ending, Jack Nicholson’s conservative marine colonel Nathan R. Jessup is being cross-examined by Tom Cruise’s liberal navy lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, who is defending two marines accused of accidentally killing a fellow soldier. Kaffee thinks Jessup ordered a “code red”—an off-the-books command to rough up a disloyal marine trainee named Santiago who was in need of discipline—and that matters got tragically out of hand. Kaffee wants individual justice for his clients even at the cost of group unity in the military. Jessup wants freedom and security for the nation even at the cost of individual liberty. Kaffee thinks that he is “entitled” to “the truth,” but Jessup suspects that Kaffee “can’t handle the truth.” Why? Because, Jessup explains,

Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s going to do it? You?… You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use ’em as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said ‘thank you’ and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

Personally, I am conflicted, and that conflict reflects the fact that there are times when moral beliefs are irreconcilable, as is the case here. On the one hand, I lean toward the liberal emphasis on individual fairness, justice, and liberty, and I worry that overemphasis on group loyalty will trigger our inner tribalism and its corresponding xenophobia.16 On the other hand, the evidence from history, anthropology, and evolutionary psychology reveals just how deep our tribal instincts run. Good fences make good neighbors because evil people really are part of the moral landscape. I am a civil libertarian who holds the value of individual liberty and autonomy above almost all other values, but ever since 9/11, 7/7, 12/25, and the countless other assaults on our liberties by other tribes, I am especially grateful to all the brave soldiers on those walls who have allowed us to sleep under a blanket of freedom.

Tragic, Utopian, and Realistic Visions of Human Nature

Identifying the moral values that make up the beliefs of liberals and conservatives perhaps helps attenuate our natural propensity to demonize those in the other party as evil. Through understanding comes tolerance. At least that’s what the idealized liberal circuits in my brain tell me. In reality, I strongly suspect that the two-party system evolved as it did over the centuries because of the natural tendency to emphasize these equally important but often irreconcilable moral values.

Recall from chapter 8 the research by behavior geneticists on identical twins separated at