At 09:23 AM 10/14/2004 -0700 Gautam Mukunda wrote:
>Not to inject facts into a fevered rant - God forbid
>anyone should do that on the list - but the whole
>concept of a massive red state/blue state divide is a
>fictional creation of media elites.
I think a greater reason why this divide is fictional is that just the
cultural divide doesn't actually follow State lines. There are major
pockets of conservatism and liberalism across the States.... I don't know
if there is an assessment of a similar intrastate diversity during the
antebellum period.
> I could speculate
>as to their reasons, but why bother. Could I suggest,
>for example, _Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized
>America_ by Morris Fiorina, a Stanford Professor who
>uses _actual polling data_ to demonstrate that people
>in this country are actually quite close together in
>terms of their political and social views?
I don't know how I think on this, and am of generally two minds.
On one hand, I think that one of the great virtues of the American system
is the broad consensus that exists on matters of policy. Through
Republicans and Democrats, foreign policy has remained broadly the same
(until 2002 anyways), and the overall size of government relative to the
economy has likewise remained broadly constant (this much has even remained
true under Bush - although I'll admit that his fiscal policy is very
inconclusive at this point.)
On the other hand, there is no question that this country is solidly
divided on social issues. Just compare abortion laws in the red states
vs. the blue states. In red states, there are usually various sensible
laws, such as ones limiting partial-birth/D&E abortions, waiting periods,
and parental/judicial notification for minors. In blue states, there are
usually taxpayer-funded abortions, and often laws that require Catholic
churches to fund abortions for their employees, and even require other
conscientious objectors like Catholic hostpials to perform abortions.
Likewise, it is no mistake that the first laws on gay marriages are coming
up in places like Vermont, Massachusetts, and Coastal California. I
suspect that as the networks slowly begin permitting four-letter words to
be uttered in prime time, and to permit various levels of nudity on TV
after 10:00 that the FCC is receiving proportionally far more complaints
from red state residents than blue state residents.
Far more importantly, however, there is no question that this country
fractured apart on the matter of the Iraq War. There was roughly 70% of
the country that strongly believed that we needed to solve the Iraq
problem, rather than continue to let it to fester like an open sore on the
surface of the globe. The remained, for whatever reason, were happy with
the status quo in Iraq and advocated "more of the same" in terms of policy.
Since the going has begun to get tough in Iraq, I'd say that split has
become more like 55%-45% in favor.
Nevertheless, I was actually thinking about this while in the car today -
that it has probably been a very long time since we have had a Presidential
election where each side was convinced that the other side will bring about
the decline of Western Civilization.
On the Left, there is a core of about 45% of Americans who are Kerry
supporters and are convinced that the war in Iraq was a grave mistake, and
that terrorism is primarily a law enforcement issue that should be
predominantly pursued through the usual criminal justice mechanisms They
view the 1993-4 nuclear deal with the DPRK that relied upon a combination
of sanctions, negotiations, and incentives to prevent nuclear proliferation
to be essentially the right policy, and a policy that remains broadly
similar to what needs to be conducted today. They believe that America
must strongly consider world opinion, primarily as represented by the
United Nations, or at minimum the *unanimous* consent of our NATO allies,
in making strategic decisions. Ultimately, they believe that pursuit of
terrorism through war is only counter-productive.
On the Right, there is a core of about 45% of Americans supporting the
President, who like me, am deeeply concerned that the election of John
Kerry will be tantamount to forever discrediting the Iraq endeavour, and
that American Presidents for a generation will be re-afflicted with
"Vietnam Syndrome" and be unwilling to make the hard choices and decisions
to use American power to protect us from threats abroad. I believe that
Iraq was and is an incredibly noble enterprise, an enterprise only taken
because of the tremendous courage and principle of the current President,
and an enterprise that, if we see it through, will make the world an
infinitely better place 5, 10, and 50 years from now. They view the 1993-4
nuclear deal with DPRK to be an incredibly tragic mistake, and one that
must never be repeated - most especially least of all in Iraq or Iran.
They view the world as being fundamentally unreliable in defending American
interests, be it through lack of ability - such as the long-term decline in
the military readiness of our NATO allies - or through having interests
fundamentally contrary to American ones, such as in the case of China and
France. They believe that world opinion should be consulted, but some
opinions (like those of our close and reliable allies) are more valuable
than those who may not have our interests at heart. Ultimately they
believe that force most sometimes be used as a last resort to curb the
forces of evil, totalitarianism, Islamo-fascism, and terrorism.
For anyone who's ever said that the American democracy needs to be fought
on a battle of the issues, well we have it allright - and quite frankly I
vastly prefer the alternative. On November 3rd, there is going to be
approximately 45% of the country that will believe that the world has
essentially come to an end. I'm not sure that's a good thing.
9/11 Really Did Change Everything
JDG
_______________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world,
it is God's gift to humanity." - George W. Bush 1/29/03
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