America: God, Guns And Gays - Robert Reich

[reprehensor]

America: God, Guns, And Gays

New Statesman (UK), October 25, 2004

About the same portion of Americans describe themselves as being liberal (19 per cent) as believe that the world will come to an end in their lifetimes (17 per cent). Right-wingers have so effectively besmirched the term ("wishy-washy liberals", "tax-and-spend liberals", "limousine liberals"), that only a few political martyrs and masochists publicly proclaim their allegiance to the cause once championed by Franklin D Roosevelt. The word preferred by left-of-centre types in the US is "progressive", which hearkens back to the earlier Roosevelt, Teddy, a turbocharged Republican who whipped monopolists and gleefully asserted the power of the federal government.

FDR's robust liberalism focused on social justice at a time when one in four workers had lost their jobs to the Great Depression, and then on social solidarity when the US entered the Second World War. By now, much of that twin legacy has disappeared. But look beneath current political labels and you find a nation still clinging to several liberal ideals. Polls show, for example, that an overwhelming majority of Americans support social security, unemployment insurance and a minimum wage, as well as Medicare for the elderly (courtesy of Lyndon B Johnson), strong environmental protections (Richard Nixon's contribution, surprisingly enough) and a graduated income tax. Most believe that government has no business snooping into people's private lives without cause to believe that they have been involved in crime. The vast majority favour equal civil rights for blacks, women and ethnic minorities. And George W Bush's swagger notwithstanding, most Americans oppose unilateral assertions of US power abroad. An overwhelming majority believe we should work in close concert with our long-standing allies, including France. The shrill, right-wing rantings of radio and television talk-show hosts do not reflect the views of most Americans - or the manner in which they disagree with one another.

The political fault-line in modern America has become cultural. It is about religion, sex and firearms (or, in the vernacular, God, gays and guns). Since 9/11, the culture war has been extended to global terrorism. On the conservative side are Americans who attend church regularly, believe that homosexuality is morally wrong, want the government to ban abortions, take offence at out-of-wedlock births and think they have a God-given right to own any gun they wish. They also want the US to exterminate all terrorists, including anyone with terrorist leanings. Most of the people who think this way reside in rural and southern parts of the nation, towns and small cities, and outlying suburbs. They are the majority in what are now called "red states" - states that lit up bright red on the electronic TV maps late on election day 2000, when returns showed that most of their voters had cast ballots for Bush. They dine nightly on meat, potatoes and a vegetable, watch Fox News, shop at Wal-Mart, and enjoy Nascar races and wrestling on TV. They earn between $20,000 and $60,000 a year - straddling the middle and working classes, doing jobs ranging from mechanic to clerical worker, beautician to physical therapist, and low-level managerial and technical work.

On the liberal side of the cultural divide are those whose church attendance is irregular at best, who harbour far more permissive attitudes toward sex, and think government should control gun ownership and ban handguns and assault rifles. They believe terrorism is a complex problem, requiring better intelligence and more effective ways to win the hearts and minds of Muslims who now opt for suicide missions. They tend to inhabit America's sprawling metropolitan regions in the north-east and on the west coast, the larger cities and the inner suburbs. They are the majority in the "blue states" that went for Al Gore. Their tastes in food tend toward varied national and ethnic cuisines. They watch the major TV networks or public television, and play golf or baseball. They typically earn between $60,000 and $200,000 a year or they earn under $20,000. Cultural liberals tend to be both richer and poorer than cultural conservatives - moderately paid professionals such as teachers, lawyers and social workers, or else low-paid employees such as hospital orderlies, retail and restaurant workers, and hotel personnel. In other words, they are more cosmopolitan than cultural conservatives and more diverse.

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