The Loyalty Problem

I think this country, perhaps the world, has become so dysfunctional because we forgot how complex the concept of loyalty can be. It seems a simple and unambiguous word. “Loyalty” is basically defined as: “the quality of giving or showing firm and constant support or allegiance.” In these last years I believe we have paradoxically become more loyal, but with too little thought or consideration of the recipient of our fealty, whether this be a person, institution, or idea.

Today’s more intense loyalty has come at the expense of judgment. Loyalty was never a substantive virtue alongside wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance. Loyalty requires prudence and vigilance in our assessment of the object of this support.

Blind and unconditional loyalty is unhealthy to relationships, families, leaders, institutions or causes because it removes judgement. Circumstance must guide decisions to be loyal. This is not easy work, it takes understanding, deliberation, evaluation, and study; it requires nuance. We must ask “what is the effect of my loyalty to this or that?” Remember, it is not true that good leaders foster intense loyalty, they inspire and promote principled behaviour. It is the bad leader who stresses loyalty above all else.

Context must be used in the calculus of “where does my loyalty lie?”  This isn’t hypocritical, it is moral, and it requires inner conviction. By way of example, on a small issue or minor piece of legislation a congressman or congresswoman might vote with his or her party; however, he or she should not thoughtlessly have allegiance to party for a destructive major legislative initiative or for entering a badly thought out foreign intervention. A worker might let a minor misbehaviour go but not a systemic fraud. Loyalty without context is idolatry. Loyalty without context has given us tyranny over the ages.

Bad leaders and corrupt institutions enforce loyalty over morality. Sadly, loyalty has become binary in our country today. James Carville, the acidic pundit, has said you can’t be loyal to us without “stickin’” it to them. In current times when a politician, educator or your neighbour tries to be non-binary, they are trashed as traitor by their side and unprotected and exploited by the opposite side.

We have been on this slippery slope for a decade or more, so this conduct has become normative. Partisanship is not the problem; it is the symptom of loyalty gone awry. We need to get our loyalties back to a healthy state. We all need to speak up, teach our children, talk with friends of different persuasions, and call out loyalty tests as malign. Whistleblowers need protection not disparagement.

Re-examining our concept of loyalty will go a long way in bringing back a more civil society.