Opinion: Why political polarization has gone wild in America

[Ducimus]

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn....has-gone-wild/

[em2nought]

Because the average "working" guy always hated the gov't leeches, but just ignored it and kept on working because "it" only cost him just so much. Now he's starting to think that all that working might have been useless if the gov't screws everything up.

The other side are just elitist nut jobs, or in on the take.

[Sailor Steve]

I don't think politics in Washington are any more polarized than they've ever been. Hamilton and Jefferson. Adams and Jefferson (who had been friends and would be again). Lincoln and anybody. It's no worse now than it ever was. We just read about it more, and thanks to television and the internet people get involved more.

[yubba]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I don't think politics in Washington are any more polarized than they've ever been. Hamilton and Jefferson. Adams and Jefferson (who had been friends and would be again). Lincoln and anybody. It's no worse now than it ever was. We just read about it more, and thanks to television and the internet people get involved more.

Well there isn't any in Washington that can measure up to the ones mentioned above, at least the fore mentioned cared about the rights and freedoms of the American people and they DIDN'T compromise or spend us into peril.

[ZeeWolf]

I believe the awakening of Americans has created
a much more informed base. A base that before
this time was much easier for the "main stream"
media to get away with their lies.
One area in particular is the push to adapted
international laws that would most Americans
would never vote for.
And the second area here is connected to the
first, and that is as Americans become more
informed they see that both political parties
are guilty of ram-rodding things through that
the majority of Americans would never vote
for. America sees with there own eyes what
the agenda has now been for years. Whether
it's Guns, Free Speech, Private Property etc.
these rights have been under assault by a
determined non-American force and finally
we see some real push back. Push back
that has only begun. THANK GOD!

It to easy to sit back and be 'informed' by media now days.
We watch the Weather, the latest News, Stock Prices, etc, on and on.
Weather is mostly wrong, the news is canted, Stocks are whacked.
And yet We assume 'all is good'.

It's not good.
Nor will it be good anytime soon!

If you buy what is sold on TV in the U.S.A. today?
You'll be a casualty very shortly in one way or another.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by yubba

Well there isn't any in Washington that can measure up to the ones mentioned above, at least the fore mentioned cared about the rights and freedoms of the American people and they DIDN'T compromise or spend us into peril.

The thread isn't about what you think of them, or about it's about polarization. My point was that there was plenty of hostility and antagonism back then, and what we're seeing today is nothing new.

You and I may praise those guys, but others in their own time hated them, and the political fighting then was no different than it is now.

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I don't think politics in Washington are any more polarized than they've ever been. Hamilton and Jefferson. Adams and Jefferson (who had been friends and would be again). Lincoln and anybody. It's no worse now than it ever was. We just read about it more, and thanks to television and the internet people get involved more.

That may be true, but has Congress been this deadlocked due to partisanship? Has there been an endemic refusal to compromise as part of a faction's platform like this in history? As everything is all relative, how does this compare to the political climates of history that people who are alive today will remember? If you read the OP's article, it lays out very good reasons why today's climate is different than those past.

Not trying to go after you, but asking serious questions that I'm curious about.

[Stealhead]

I agree with Sailor Steve if you read up on how they really where(and not the mythology) even in the early days they where pretty polarized back then and would do some pretty nasty smear campaigns against each other as well.

Thomas Jefferson for example his opponents would spread manner of foul things related to the fact that he had had children with one of his slaves.Funny as when black relatives of Jefferson claimed their relation to him in more recent time it was somewhat doubted at first.Even though it at one time had been public knowledge and Jefferson never denied the fact in his time.

Also look at the issue of slavery it was known for years before what happened in Kansas and Missouri and caused the Civil War that slavery(and to an extent states rights but really the right that they wanted was slavery to be legal so the Civil War was over slavery no matter how some wish to sugar coat it as not having been) was going to be a huge issue but they never effectively did anything about it until a war settled the issue.That times span was over 20 years never really effectively settling the issue,So we have been this polarized for a very long time before.

[Anthony W.]

Because we're in the midst of a political renaissance.

The 2 sides are so extreme and filled with so many falsities that America is going back into a state of patriotism. We've got our ideals, and we're now extremely pissed off that the people we elected lied to us.

We're trying to get back to the last hay day we remember - and - the stability of the mid to late 80's is what we remember.

Pop culture is only stimulating it. Now, not only do we have political rifts, but cultural and generational. We're realizing that we're not going in the right direction, and it's a split between which direction we go. Nanny state or superpower, and some minor other factions.

What issue is at the forefront of my mind is all the pressure for us to Europeanize. I hate that. I don't want America to be like the rest of the world. We're Americans - not Europeans. We have the right to behave however we want to, without really caring about what other people think.

In MY opinion, I say that the UN and them military international groups and treaties that we're in are doing nothing but hurting us.

And that was my emotionally charged blow off.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

That may be true, but has Congress been this deadlocked due to partisanship? Has there been an endemic refusal to compromise as part of a faction's platform like this in history? As everything is all relative, how does this compare to the political climates of history that people who are alive today will remember? If you read the OP's article, it lays out very good reasons why today's climate is different than those past.

Well...

1) Redistricting has created safe seats so that for most House members, their only concern is a challenge from the right for Republicans and the left for Democrats. The incentive is to pander to the base, not the center.

In 1812 the word "gerrymander" was coined when the Massachusetts legislature redrew the boundaries of state legislative districts to favor Governor Gerry's party. The Governor's strategy was to encompass most of the state's Federalists, allowing them to win in that district while his party, the Democratic-Republicans, took control of all the other districts in the state. The term eventually became part of world political vocabulary, and the practice is still in use today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbridge_Gerry

2) Party primaries have been taken over by small groups of activists who push even popular senators to extreme positions. In Utah, for example, 3,500 conservative activists managed to take the well- regarded Senator Robert Bennett off the ballot. GOP senators like Orrin Hatch and John McCain have moved farther to the right, hoping to stave off similar assaults.

In the election of 1800 Alexander Hamilton, whose support helped John Adams win in 1796, did everything he could to destroy Adams' chances for reelection, and it worked. Later Hamilton would accuse Jefferson and Madison of creating the first political party in America for the sole purpose of ruining his career. He may have been right.

3) Changes in Congressional rules have also made it far more difficult to enact large, compromise legislation. In the wake of the Watergate Scandal, "Sunshine rules" were put into place that required open committee meetings and recorded votes. The purpose was to make Congress more open, more responsive - and so it has become to lobbyists, money and special interests. This is because they're the people who watch every committee vote and mobilize opposition to any withdrawal of subsidies or tax breaks.

Congress has been changing, using and abusing the rules since day one. The Federalists and the Republicans did everything they could think of to destroy each other, and it hasn't changed a lick.

4) Political polarization has also been fueled by a new media, which is also narrowcast.

Media which does nothing but report news is a modern phenomenon. In the early days all papers were privately printed. Their "news" was copied from other papers and passed around, and most of what they called "news" was in fact opinion, and often outright hate speech. Read the headlines from the aforementioned election of 1800. Nothing has changed. It's just that more of us get a chance to give our opinions, so it looks bigger.

Not trying to go after you...

Didn't think you were.

We've got our ideals, and we're now extremely pissed off that the people we elected lied to us.

You elected?
After you get the vote and have been through a few elections you will realise that no matter what system or what party or individual is up there you will still be lied to by them.
Though a quick look at any politics in history should show you that already.

We're trying to get back to the last hay day we remember - and - the stability of the mid to late 80's is what we remember.

You remember the 80s?
The late 80s that was just a section of the boom bust boom bust cycle. Going back to an upswing on a cycle only means you are heading for a downturn

What issue is at the forefront of my mind is all the pressure for us to Europeanize. I hate that.

An interesting term...what on earth does "europeanize" mean?