Oddbean

It's also the same root as polite. It's ironic we tend to think of talking politics as impolite. The root word is polis, from the Greek to mean "city". True politics is the art of living in community. It's a matter of the organizing of society. In politics, our focus ought be on continually improving and optimizing our shared lives. The problems arise when we cease to see the forest for the density of the trees, or vice-versa, we find we cannot see trees for the breadth of the forest. The pendulum swings between seeing us fundamentally as individuals or as groups, and just like a person is neither a body nor a spirit but rather their union, so too are we neither isolated and atomized nor an amalgamated homogenous mass, but rather individuals in community. We mirror (or are the image of, if you will) the Triune Godhead in this respect. Distinct and United, both. Although the bodies remain distinct, in marriage the two are one flesh. In Christ, we are one Body. Unity is the highest social virtue, second only to charity. #makePoliticsPoliteAgain