I can definitely see this relationship, especially given America's past dynamics. There are some interesting evolutionary perspectives on the utility of altruis

I can definitely see this relationship, especially given America's past dynamics. There are some interesting evolutionary perspectives on the utility of altruistic punishment and the link to egalitarianism. Rather, inequality can be one of the main drivers that explain collective punishment in addition to drivers for group cooperation. If you really think about it, a lot of hard-left and hard-right policies could be presented in this way: I, along with my group or associated groups, are at a significant disadvantage compared to "some other group of people or individuals". Or in another sense of the perspective, there is a subgroup that is taking advantage and freeloading off of some advantages that are meant for our group to which we have certain standards of behavior. Altruistic punishment might be considered one of the tools for punishing and reinforcing behavior that is ideal to the group(s). I've also come across some research on how a lot of this can be drawn from how a society sits on the individualism-collectivism scale.