Dear Conservatives, Culture Is Downstream From Politics Too

There’s an oft-repeated maxim in conservative circles, popularized by the late journalist Andrew Breitbart: “Politics is downstream from culture.”

Those who repeat this line generally mean that culture – our collective beliefs, values, morals, behaviors and ideas – shapes and influences our politics, laws and government. They might argue that if you have bad politics and laws, it’s because your culture is rotten. Change the culture, and you’ll change politics.

But here’s the rub: the maxim doesn’t tell the full story.

To be sure, culture can and does influence politics – the adage isn’t entirely wrong. However, it doesn’t sufficiently reflect reality. Yes, culture is downstream from politics too. Politics shapes culture. Culture influences politics. The truth is, it’s a “both and,” not an “either or.”

Ideas have consequences. When conservatives assertively repeat a partially true proverb as our philosophy of cultural engagement, we undermine our influence and ability to effect change – both in the political and cultural realms.

Left unchallenged, the “politics is downstream from culture” motto can lead to an abandonment of the political sphere – and therefore, cultural decay.

Here’s three reasons that politics can shape and influence culture.

Politics as the Master Science

Let’s start with a brief philosophical examination.

In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argued that politics is the “master science.” It is the “most authoritative art” because it “ordains which of the sciences should be studied in a state.”

In other words, politics is preeminent over all other areas of society – medicine, economics, entertainment, war etc. – because it governs every other area of expertise.

“Politics,” the philosopher continues, “legislates as to what we are to do and what we are to abstain from, the end of this science must include those of the others, so that the end must be the good for man” (emphasis added).

The student of politics, Aristotle asserts, is “thought to have studied virtue above all things,” because he “wishes to make his fellow citizens good and obedient to the laws.” He even claims that the student of politics “must study the soul” to promote the “human good” and “human happiness.”

In other words, politics is directed for the good of man and to guide them to live virtuously which is the path to true human happiness. This is a truly high and lofty ideal to be sure.

Aristotle has a much higher view of politics than many modern people do. We often use the words “politics” and “politician” in a suspicious sense.

But Aristotle properly held that politics is not just a necessary evil. It is not something dirty or sullied. Rather, done rightly, it is – according to Aristotle – the highest subject human beings can study and influence because its purpose is to promote human flourishing.

For Aristotle, culture is indeed downstream from politics because politics, rightly understood, is the “master science” which governs, influences, shapes, directs and guides the rest of culture and individual human beings.

Politics as a Truly Human Activity

Aristotle also asserts that man is by nature a “political animal,” meaning that politics is a necessary part of our nature. He asserts this based on two unique human factors: (1) our capacity for speech and (2) our capacity for reason.

Because human beings speak, we naturally draw together to construct and form cities and societies: the polis. Because we can reason, we will naturally ask how best to govern our societies. The natural result of these two factors is politics – the natural deliberation on how best to govern our lives together.

Indeed, politics even precedes and forms culture because all culture derives from the polis. So, in this sense, politics is culture and culture is politics. The only question is whether we will govern our societies in a way that promotes a culture of human flourishing – or not. That is what all good politics seeks.

The Law as Teacher

Finally, those who say that politics is downstream from culture miss an important point: the law is a teacher.

Before the U.S. Supreme Court redefined marriage in its 2015 opinion Obergefell v. Hodges, 31 states (including California, Colorado and Hawaii) had approved ballot measures properly defining marriage as between one man and one woman. In this way, politics followed our culture’s understanding that marriage was between one man and one woman.

Washington state was the first – and only – state to pass a ballot measure legalizing same-sex marriage prior to Obergefell.

But the law is a great teacher, and following Obergefell, Americans almost instantly rolled over and acquiesced to the new definition of “marriage.” In this way, culture followed our political redefinition of marriage as the union of two adult persons regardless of sex.

As illustrated by the marriage redefinition debate, the political & cultural stream flows both ways.

Now consider abortion.

There were around 600,000-700,000 legal abortions in 1973, and 30 states prohibited abortion entirely. Then Roe decreed abortion a constitutional right and as a result, abortion rates skyrocketed. Nearly 1.4 – 1.5 million legal abortions were performed throughout the 1980s.

In this way, the law (via the Supreme Court) directly led to a massive cultural impact – women believed abortion was morally permissible and therefore killed millions of their preborn children.

You might have heard the phrase, “You can’t legislate morality.” That’s hogwash. It’s the only thing you can legislate.

Nearly everything this is legislated has a moral dimension. From less controversial debates like imposing limits on credit card interest rates, to more controversial ones like redefining marriage or making abortion legal or illegal, every politician who argues in favor of a law does so using moral terms and ideals.

Politics influences culture because it teaches individuals about what is moral and immoral.

Saying “politics is downstream from culture” is an insufficient reflection of reality.

Conservatives should think twice before letting the popular refrain determine their theory of political and cultural engagement.

Culture and politics surely influence each other. As conservatives, we would be deeply irresponsible to focus all our energies on changing culture, hoping politics will follow suit. Such would be a fool’s errand.

We abandon politics at our own peril.

Related articles and resources:

Christians Have a Responsibility and Privilege to Get Engaged in Politics

Dear Christians, ‘Politics’ Is Not a Dirty Word

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