Morality and why politics is not sport

This by Josh Chafetz captures the problems with "it's just politics and not worth destroying family and friendships" (most recently by J.D. Vance during a campaign event). Josh's key insight is that politics is not a hobby; it is a means to the ends of how we live. And one reasonably can (and perhaps should) have a line at which another person's views and desires of how we should live outweigh friendship. The debate is about where people draw the line, not about whether people should draw the line.

This is bound up with the sportification of politics. Politics is sport--games we watch for fun without real-world consequences. So if I can marry an Orioles fan or talk college sports at Thanksgiving with my uncle who went to the rival college or be friends with a White Sox fan, I can do the same with a person whose political preferences, if enacted into law, would strip my child of basic rights.