I've been in the tea party movement from its inception. I've interacted with thousands and thousands of people. As much as you hear it discussed in the media, the only white supremacists I've ever met are those who got their post-grad from a liberal university and think that they are better than everyone else, and they were never in the tea party.

(I heard someone say recently that intellect and education don't necessarily have much to do with the other. That seems about right.)

Christians, if they truly believe that Jesus saved them, know that their works don't make them clean. They're saved by faith alone, and that by the grace of God. As Isaiah 64 says, all our righteous acts are filthy rags before God. We are all sinners. Anyone convicted of their sins and saved by grace cannot be morally superior to anyone else.

But for those without God or without that conviction, moral supremacy is not just a possibility... it's a likelihood.

Two social psychologists from Britain, Tappin and McKay, studied this phenomenon and published a paper entitled "The Illusion of Moral Superiority." In it, they conclude that "most people strongly believe they are just, virtuous, and moral; yet regard the average person as distinctly less so." This leads to problems: "When opposing sides are convinced of their own righteousness, escalation of violence is more probable, and the odds of resolution are ominously low."

This is critical to consider because we have two very distinct factions in the US today: the left and the right. They seem to have nothing in common.

States and sections of states are so divided that they seek secession. TEXIT, the greater Idaho movement... even Illinois wants nothing to do with Cook County where you find Chicago. Unity? Not a chance. Geographic and political divorce, thank you.

But it's not just geography. You see this every day on social media. People use moral grandstanding to generate positive attention for themselves while denigrating others. I wonder if anyone has ever created a sneer emoji?

So where is the answer? Can there be any unity?

Moral superiority, if I adopt it, places me above you. It separates. Whether it's a bible in the hand or an EV in the driveway, nothing I can do can lift me up above the crowd. If I have either, it's a personal choice done for my own benefit, and not fodder for preening before others.

Because actions don't bring salvation. No one is better than anyone else. There is no supremacy. Let's get that right.

Some would use the government as a proxy for good works "to help others." But all that does is put bureaucrats in the position of choosing who receives benefits from government. Government is rarely fair or just. It gives too much power to too few. You cannot legislate charity. And no one is compassionate who would use other people's money for charity. That's just theft disguising itself as kindness.

Some would insert the community as a proxy for parenting. "It takes a village," we hear. Except that the village is never there at 2 AM with the screaming baby who can't sleep. That's a loving parent, and there is no substitute for the sacrifices a parent will make. Those who call for the village to oversee the development of a child don't care much about the child as an individual, but instead want to urge the child into service for the village. Which is slavery disguising itself as kindness.

At the basis of every secession movement is, of course, a craving for independence. The interesting thing about being left alone is that the individual carving out an existence can never act superior to anyone else. There is no supremacy when you're all by yourself. Those who seek independence, by definition, cannot be or act superior to anyone. They compete with no one.

Moral supremacy requires an audience. In 1995, Thomas Sowell wrote "The Vision of the Anointed."

In it, he "observed that an elite cadre of Americans, without having been appointed by anyone, declared their superior morality and their critical role in correcting society's wrongs. [They] have the hubris to believe it is their role, with their superior vision and ideas, to rescue the victims of society's 'oppression' by imposing their collective will onto others."

The crazy thing is that God himself doesn't coerce anyone into any behavior. So who is anyone else to do so?

No one wants to be associated with a white supremacist, and for good reason. We should perhaps make pariahs out of those who believe they are moral supremacists as well. To do so would make for a less divisive village.