Actually one of the more reasoned posts you've made in a long time. That phrase in the title that you used struck me because I'm a huge student of animal behavior and the more I watch and interact with my pets, the more I believe that the clearly demonstrable trait of dogs to rally around an alpha leader, is alive and well in humans as well.

That's not a reassuring thought given that often the most educated and reasonable people never try to attain that alpha dog status. Much like my older dog, they are just as happy to play the submissive role. It's not important to them. Instead societies find themselves more easily attracted to the rednecks and bullies that talk and think in black and white.

It's exactly why I fear more excess from the right than I do from the left. Although I fully acknowledge that any excess is wrong, I believe completely as a scholar of human behavior, that the extremists on your side have a much easier time finding converts and followers than do their liberal counterparts precisely because their actions and behavior more closely follow the alpha dog model.

I'm not sure our species will ever shake that trait completely but education goes a long way towards minimizing its effect.

Art