Hello and welcome to the political orphanage a show for plucky misfits and problem solvers.

I'm your host Andrew Heaton.

And today I want to approach things a little different. A lot of listeners have contacted me

over the last couple of years and asked some variant of the question, why has politics

become so hostile?

Why are my friends mean to me?

Usually on this program I focus on big, abstract, thinky reasons.

Today I want to go the exact opposite direction, neurochemicals and evolution.

Let's try to understand our present culture and political climate, not through packets of beliefs

and policy provisions, let's try to understand it as mammals.

Before we jump in, this show is sponsored by its very own listeners on Patreon. And if you want to support pithy, nonpartisan, independent political analysis,

you can do so by going to

patreon.com slash Andrew Heaton. Not only will you be directly responsible for

keeping this awesome juggernaut of a podcast afloat, you'll also have access to weekly bonus episodes, including the back

catalog of bonus episodes that are already there, where I get super nerdy on political science

and ethics and politics and sometimes make references to pop culture or mythology.

That's Patreon.com slash Andrew Heaton.

I am joined today by Dr. Loretta Bruning. She is the founder of the Inter Mammal Institute

and Professor Emeritus of Management

at California State University East Bay.

She is the author of I Mammal,

How to Make Peace with the Animal Urge for Social Power and Hab habits of a happy brain, retrain your

...