"All people are born alike" - except Republicans and Democrats. -- Groucho Marx

In a recent academic conference, a professor of political science invoked the classic, if apocryphal, Groucho Marx quip, “All people are born alike – except Republicans and Democrats,” to a mixture of laughter and uneasy groans. The line, delivered with the comedian’s trademark irreverence, cuts to the heart of the modern American political experience, where partisan identity often feels less like a chosen affiliation and more like an immutable characteristic assigned at birth. This sentiment, while humorous on its surface, underscores a deeply entrenched and increasingly tribal political landscape.

The observation speaks to a phenomenon social scientists have termed “affective polarization,” where political allegiances transcend policy preferences and evolve into core social identities. It is no longer merely that Republicans and Democrats disagree on issues; it is that they increasingly view each other as fundamentally different kinds of people, with incompatible values, lifestyles, and worldviews. This divide is visible in where they choose to live, the news sources they consume, and even whom they befriend or marry. The notion that we are all born alike becomes a quaint abstraction in the face of a culture that incessantly categorizes and amplifies differences.

This perceived inherent difference is, of course, a social construct, cultivated over decades by a combination of media echo chambers, gerrymandered electoral districts that reward partisan extremism, and political rhetoric that frames elections not as contests of ideas but as existential battles for the soul of the nation. The result is a political climate where compromise is seen as betrayal and the opposing party is viewed not as a loyal opposition but as a threat to the country’s very existence.

Groucho’s joke, delivered in a different era, lands with a heavier thud today. It prompts a sobering reflection on whether the shared humanity that supposedly unites us has been irrevocably overshadowed by the partisan labels that divide us. The challenge that remains, commentators argue, is not to paper over genuine philosophical differences, but to rediscover the common ground of that initial, universal likeness—to remember that before anyone is a Republican or a Democrat, they are, as the quote first insists, simply a person.