Long-time fans of Fukuyama's Trust (*) will appreciate this. Outside a small family circle, the links of kinship are biologically trifling, vulnerable to manipulation, and inimical to modernity. For all that, the almost mystical bond that we feel with those whom we perceive as kin continues to be a potent force in human affairs. It is no small irony that in an age in which technology allows us to indulge (*) these emotions as never before, our political culture systematically misunderstands them.
This is also a partial response to the observation by Decius that "People who have different identities tend to fight." This is not unrelated to Tom Friedman's McDonald's Theory: "No two countries that both had McDonald's had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald's."
(*) Acidus should definitely be posting here: [1,2,3,4,5] Strangled by Roots | Steven Pinker | 
