What do you believe and why do you believe it? Do you have faith in America and our democratic ideals?

When I was in high school in the early eighties, Rush had a classic rock anthem about our social divisions and subdivisions. “Conform or be cast out” was the bridge of the song.

Though Rush is a Canadian band, they hit upon a truth that De Tocqueville (a French national), addressed in his classic book Democracy in America. The tyranny of the majority overwhelmingly encourages us to adopt the popular belief or be cast out.

We are hard wired to conform to the group. When our civilization was small tribes, outsiders tended to die out because of lack of resources if not actual physical violence from the group protecting their territory.

In 1951, the Solomon Asch Conformity Line Experiment asked an unwitting participant to tell which two lines were the same length. The room was filled with shills who would pick the wrong line, and 75% of the time the participant would go along with the wrong answer. Even when it is blindingly obvious that the majority is wrong, we won’t believe our lying eyes, we’ll side with the group.

Simply put, don’t make life decisions based on something that you hear at a rally, you might get shot or go to prison. Think before you believe.