I don’t think the current state of American politics is a result of structural problems—it’s gotten a lot worse as far as I can tell in the past decade or so. I don’t know who started it, or who’s done the most to amplify matters, but I think Republicans and Democrats have become a lot more contemptuous of each other.
American politics has gotten steadily more partisan over the last several decades, mostly as a result of desegregation. While the south was under an apartheid regime many Republicans (“Rockefeller Republicans”) were to the left of Democrats (“Dixiecrats.”) This is no longer the case; every Democratic senator is to the left of every Republican senator—if you have strong politics yourself, the absolute distance looks small, but the lack of mixture is an undeniable fact. The decreased importance of regional party machines plays into this as well. Parties now function much more like coherent policy packages, so legislators have less allies outside of their own party.
While the south was under an apartheid regime many Republicans (“Rockefeller Republicans”) were to the left of Democrats (“Dixiecrats.”) This is no longer the case; every Democratic senator is to the left of every Republican senator
Desegregation isn’t irrelevant to what has happened to American politics- but this doesn’t have anything to do with where senators are on an arbitrary political spectrum. The particular manifestation of the left-right political spectrum you have in mind here is the invention of the post-segregation political climate. Pre-desegregation issues didn’t break down into positions corresponding to our current political spectrum.
Pre-desegregation issues didn’t break down into positions corresponding to our current political spectrum.
That’s probably a better way of phrasing it. Perhaps I should have said that great majority of variance in political opinion today can be explained with one eigenvector while pre-segregation it would have taken two. Either way, the greater level of ideological coherence is responsible, I think.
So, if Aumann is to be believed, in those cases where we do talk enough, and in which we claim to share priors and fundamental values, disagreement is likely to turn nasty.
it’s gotten a lot worse as far as I can tell in the past decade or so.
I agree it has gotten worse, though I would trace it back at least to the Bork nomination fight. So, if I want to stick to my AAT-based explanation of the facts, I need to claim either that we have only recently started claiming to have the same fundamental values, or that we are talking more.
I believe that there has been a convergence regarding claimed values, over that period, but the situation regarding communication is more complicated. Political activists (and they are exactly the people who have poisonous attitudes about the opposition) probably do communicate more, but they do so over completely distorted channels. Democrats learn about what Republicans are saying from the Daily Show, the Onion, and Pharyngula. Republican learn what Democrats are saying from Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. I suppose the real question is why today’s activists seem to think that these channels are sufficient.
Perhaps people would always have preferred those kinds of channels, but in the past they just weren’t available.
Perhaps people would always have preferred those kinds of channels, but in the past they just weren’t available.
Talk radio’s been around for a while, and TV pundits only a little less so, so I’d hesitate to blame either one. The political blog scene might be more directly involved; it’s highly polarized, has excellent visibility among politically aware individuals, tends to be kind of incestuous, and coincides roughly with the 10-year timeframe we’re discussing.
I think existing structural problems were dramatically magnified by the modern media environment. The growth of politically involved evangelicalism is also relevant.
I don’t think the current state of American politics is a result of structural problems—it’s gotten a lot worse as far as I can tell in the past decade or so. I don’t know who started it, or who’s done the most to amplify matters, but I think Republicans and Democrats have become a lot more contemptuous of each other.
American politics has gotten steadily more partisan over the last several decades, mostly as a result of desegregation. While the south was under an apartheid regime many Republicans (“Rockefeller Republicans”) were to the left of Democrats (“Dixiecrats.”) This is no longer the case; every Democratic senator is to the left of every Republican senator—if you have strong politics yourself, the absolute distance looks small, but the lack of mixture is an undeniable fact. The decreased importance of regional party machines plays into this as well. Parties now function much more like coherent policy packages, so legislators have less allies outside of their own party.
Desegregation isn’t irrelevant to what has happened to American politics- but this doesn’t have anything to do with where senators are on an arbitrary political spectrum. The particular manifestation of the left-right political spectrum you have in mind here is the invention of the post-segregation political climate. Pre-desegregation issues didn’t break down into positions corresponding to our current political spectrum.
That’s probably a better way of phrasing it. Perhaps I should have said that great majority of variance in political opinion today can be explained with one eigenvector while pre-segregation it would have taken two. Either way, the greater level of ideological coherence is responsible, I think.
I suspect that’s just nostalgia filter.
Hard to prove—I’m not nostalgic in general though. For example, I think food’s generally gotten a lot better since the 90s.
A lecture about political rhetoric which shows that the nastiness level can change over time—in particular, it goes into detail about shifts in which words got used in political discourse during the Nazi era.
I can tell you with certainty that Republicans and Democrats didn’t used to have nasty names (Rethuglicans, Libtards) for each other.
I agree it has gotten worse, though I would trace it back at least to the Bork nomination fight. So, if I want to stick to my AAT-based explanation of the facts, I need to claim either that we have only recently started claiming to have the same fundamental values, or that we are talking more.
I believe that there has been a convergence regarding claimed values, over that period, but the situation regarding communication is more complicated. Political activists (and they are exactly the people who have poisonous attitudes about the opposition) probably do communicate more, but they do so over completely distorted channels. Democrats learn about what Republicans are saying from the Daily Show, the Onion, and Pharyngula. Republican learn what Democrats are saying from Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. I suppose the real question is why today’s activists seem to think that these channels are sufficient.
Perhaps people would always have preferred those kinds of channels, but in the past they just weren’t available.
Talk radio’s been around for a while, and TV pundits only a little less so, so I’d hesitate to blame either one. The political blog scene might be more directly involved; it’s highly polarized, has excellent visibility among politically aware individuals, tends to be kind of incestuous, and coincides roughly with the 10-year timeframe we’re discussing.
I think existing structural problems were dramatically magnified by the modern media environment. The growth of politically involved evangelicalism is also relevant.