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enefits was presented by Republicans preferred that plan. 20For both liberals andconservatives in the study, staying true to their party was more important than thesubstance of the proposals. Tellingly, most members of both groups denied that thepartisan labels had affected their judgment. 21It may seem reasonable that people will be loyal to their political parties and overlooksome incongruities about their parties’ positions on issues. After all, there are only twomajor parties in America, so unanimity within a party on every issue is unattainable andcompromise is required. Also, we may feel tied to a party because of a patronage job,family history, or other factors. Those arguments may sound reasonable to you. If theydo, that is probably because you, like most people, have a talent for finding creativeexplanations for our emotional reactions. People are incredibly good at rationalizing ourirrational loyalty to virtually any tribe, even one to which we are assigned randomly andhave no personal connections.To illustrate, look at the lines below, and identify the perpendicular line on the left that isthe same length as the perpendicular line on the right.A B C20 Id. at 89, citing Geoffrey L. Cohen, Party over policy: The dominating impact of group influence onpolitical beliefs, 85 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 808 (2003).21 Id.7