Why are we so politically divided?

[napi21]

I've been thinking about this for a long time. What happened to the days both parties worked together, albeit quite unfriendly at times, to get laws enacted for the good of our Country? I admit I'm kinda old but I remember when the minimum wage was raised, SS tax was raised, tax laws were adjusted, new infrastructure was built and old maintained, and when Senators or Representatives addressed their respective bodies, they'd say "My Dear Friend _____", and mean it! It seems to me all that went away after Reagan. Now, we're lucky they don't physically attack each other. WHAT HAPPNED?

Quite a few things I think.

First, Reagan saw to it that income tax rates were dramatically reduced for the wealthy & for corporations. THAT removed millions, not only from revenue, but from business investment that grew businesses and employed more people.

Reagan also let Religion have a lot more influence on government than ever before.

That fundamentalist influence grew stronger AND nastier.

During the Clinton administration, lots of laws were enacted that angered those Fundies and they haven't backed off yet

It's the Fundies who are the source of most of the mean, nasty, and attitudes in our government today. They've managed to kick out almost all of the moderates and promoted the extremists to power. Everything is my way or the highway with them. Compromise is evil, and everybody who doesn't agree with them is the enemy!

If we ever hope to get back to a functioning government again, we're somehow going to have to force these Fundies back to a minority again.

Am I crazy? Have We (Dems) changed as well & are contributing to the dissent?

[NurseJackie]

1. Contributing to? No. --- Tolerating less bull and fighting back? YES!

If we Dems have changed, then it's that we're not as willing to go-along-to-get-along.

[lpbk2713]

2. Short answer --- Runny RayGun and AM Hate Radio

Otherwise, a whole page could be devoted to expanding on this topic.

[Initech]

19. I think Joseph McCarthy started it.

AM hate radio is just a byproduct of the McCarthy era.

[Moostache]

3. The insertion of religion into politics is the key...

The GOP fundamentalist X-tians see themselves as anointed from on high. They believe that their interpretation of their faith is due unquestioned acceptance and fealty.

They can all cordially fuck right off.

The founders KNEW that religion and politics DO NOT MIX...its like eating salsa flavored yogurt...two things that never belong together.

Until America moves in a more rational, sane and secular direction, we will remain divided. The number of people who believe any of the specifics of religions is in stark decline. Its being replaced by a more nebulous "faith" or nothing at all. Once we toss the money changers out of the modern temple, its time to burn down the damn temple too.

[emulatorloo]

4. Atwater, Rove, and their heirs and imitators. Lying lies and the liars who tell them

[gratuitous]

5. I think it's the "no compromise" faction

And only one of our two political parties has given that faction a voice and allowed it to rule them. Republicans have found it quite profitable to do nothing and keep the country locked into its present state of affairs. The playing field is tilted in their favor, and they're playing it for all it's worth. The returns are diminishing, and their intransigent base is shrinking, but it's still the game they want to play. They make unrealistic promises (outlaw abortion, make same-sex marriage illegal again, return prayer to public schools) and gin up the fear and the blame to keep their base engaged, but some of them have figured out the scam that's being run.

I really didn't think the Republicans could stick it out the way they have, but I was quite wrong. The leadership knows that any compromise is death for their careers. They have made it an article of Republican faith that government isn't the solution to any problem, can't be used to better society for more citizens, and that any attempt to do so will fail. They're locked into that position.

California provided the road map for how this dead end strategy plays out: Republican participation in state government there is practically non-existent. They can see it, but they refuse to do anything else, lest their governing philosophy of the last 40 years be called into question. Their authoritarian bent won't admit to error or even uncertainty. Democrats have offered half measures and compromise over and over in the last six years, but it's been futile to negotiate with a party that won't budge on anything.

[LWolf]

6. That's an important factor.

During the Clinton administration, laws were passed that did a disservice, and thus angered, many who had traditionally supported Democrats. The Clintons ARE supposed moderates, and they are the power brokers of the party. So yes, Democrats have contributed to the dissent.

Think about it.

Unregulated airwaves and political radio...that's propaganda, and people allow the emotional centers of their lizard brain to react, bypassing their logic and reason centers. It's not just for Republicans. Right here on DU, how many posts are there every day, every weekend, about the political talk shows on teevee and how "great" those that say what DUers want to hear are, and how angry do people get at hearing something they don't agree with? Opinions have become sacred, and fighting enemies is a sacred sport. Enough so that people line up on the couch in front of their teevees for political talk like it's the superbowl, to cheer their "side" on and hate the other.

So sacred, in fact, that Democrats can't stand to hear dissent within the ranks, which is why even Democrats here at DU are silenced and tombstoned when they do. Dissent is not looked at as an opportunity for a substantive discussion and evolution of ideas that bring people together, but as something that must be silenced, squashed, and kicked out. The effect of those efforts is to further disenfranchise and anger people, which feeds divisiveness.

It's a national disgrace, imo, and it's not restricted to Republicans or to the political or religious right, although they certainly are a large part of the problem.

[milestogo]

7. The end of white male hegemony

Having a black man and a white woman usurp the white male's place in the presidency is evoking all kinds of rage over people who no longer "know their place".

[doc03]

8. Fox News and AM talk radio and the internet wackos like Alex Jones. nt

[ProudProgressiveNow]

10. +1 nt

[Elwood P Dowd]

11. Lee Atwater-Roger Stone tactics also.

“Remember, politics is not about uniting people,” Stone told Jeffrey Toobin in 2008. “It’s about dividing people and getting your 51 percent.”

[lindysalsagal]

9. Women's equality and hispanic emmigration, and the interwebs.

It used to be a good-ol-(white) boy's world.

We all watched the same 3 network channels and in those days, reporters kept to the script. Without the interwebs, people had little understanding of the truth of what really went on in the background. What yo don't know CAN hurt you.

Now, not only do we have unlimited outlets for information, we also have each other in our social media, and we, the people, are driving the message.

Everyone is now a broadcaster, with their own TV studio in their pocket.

And we've always had the right-wing "moral majority," but they didn't have their own media, nor did regular people have a way of contributing.

I also think the first Iraq/Kuwait occupation expanded the "news" industry and the tv news expanded and specialized.

Religion figured out how to harness it all, and, voila: Politicians were forced to clarify every minutae of policy detail, when in previous decades, they made pretty speeches and didn't go there.

It's the technology world, and everything is getting reduced to binary form: Coke/pepsi.

[The2ndWheel]

13. We're a more abstract society

There's less that ties people together, which people both like and dislike. People want more community at the same time, but everyone should be able to follow their own dreams. It's conflicting.

Following from that, we directly need each other less than ever before. Technology makes getting through a day as an individual pretty easy. Even if you need to let's say move, you'll probably hire some guys from a company, as that is their job, not call your friends and family, because they have their own shit to do. Plus you might not even live anywhere near them anyway, which again, people like and dislike.

And yeah, if you don't think that we (Dems) haven't changed and don't contribute to the dissent, then I'm not sure what to tell you. It's easier today than ever to get together with like minded people, and not have to deal with people that think differently than you do. See: all the blame goes to Reagan and the Fundies. If we could just get rid of the other, everything would be easier. Meaning, diversity is messy. Yet, diversity is great. Another conflict within the human imagination.

[Rex]

14. I don't find us to be, small numbers are more divided then ever and they get the airtime.

They get the national spotlight. I think people are TIRED of certain things, collectively. Part of that is a broken system that the GOP broke decades ago and is now coming to haunt the party into obscurity.

The media is the same as it ever was, making money off ratings. It causes the radicals to make a lot of noise, hopefully they won't do something violent. If they do the media rakes in the cash.

We will have a functioning government if we can take the Senate.

[Retired George]

15. Cable TV

We'd be better off with ABC-CBS-NBC and Public television.

[AngryAmish]

16. What we call Progressivism is the secular branch of reformed Protestantism

For example, belief in racial equality, sexual equality and economic equality arose from the Second Great Awakening.

This was very popular with the old line Protestant folks (Puritans) that dominate elite culture to this day. Harvard was founded to produce Puritan ministers...they still do.

So why the conflict? Not every church agreed with the Great Awakenings ((there have been about four).

The Redneck culture in the us comes from a Borderers who Cromwell sent to the US and Ulster. They do not hold the same opinions on many subjects as Puritans.

The increasing racial diversity does not help either.

[Skittles]

17. Fox News stoking ignorance

[hfojvt]

18. Actually Clinton gets some of the blame

Who was one of the last Republicans to compromise with Democrats?

It was George H W Bush. For the good of the country, to reduce the deficit, he agreed to the Democrats bill which raised taxes.

And what happened?

The Democrat Bill Clinton used that against him in the election of 1992.

In the words of Pan - bad form!

Let's not pretend that we are not part of the problem. What do we call the other side? A collection of racist, misogynist, xenophobic, homophobic fundies. What do we call Democrats who compromise with them? We call them DINOs. We want them to be primaried from the left.

Well, the Republican wing of the the Republican Party is just as fired up about RINOs, and the money and media noise machine gives those people a megaphone and a fair amount of clout.

"everybody who doesn't agree with them is the enemy".

You know where I have found that attitude more than anywhere else I have seen it in my life - right here on DU. Not saying that this is limited to the left. Seems to me there are some conservatives I have known from DI (and also here) who are real pieces of work as far as being intolerant of opposing views.

And I might be wrong on that, or it is a selection bias of some sort, but in arguments here it often seems like my opponent almost never just thinks I am wrong. They think I am wrong AND evil (or have some other defect, like racism, wilful ignorance, just plain stupidity, perhaps a mental illness, etc.) and they often will get applauded for saying so.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

20. The great social cleave happened in the sixties through early seventies.

and that social cleave cut through some traditional or natural political alliances. This would be where we parted company with the racist and Neo-Confederate, "God, Gays and Guns" and "America Fuck Yeah!" working class. The Republicans had little to offer these guys except for increasingly insane rhetoric that has brought us to precisely where we are now with Trump.

What has changed in the television age is Americans became more visible to one another and that was very good at fueling resentment.

[GulfCoast66]

21. Racism

Racism, racism and racism. With a big dose of misogyny thrown in.

[JI7]

22. civil rights