American political spectrum period

Lesson 2, Part 1: Political Opinion and Political Parties

 

"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.”

 

-Winston Churchill

Expected Outcomes To understand the philosophical differences between conservative, liberal, populist and libertarian cultures; to comprehend the impact of race and gender on political opinion; and to evaluate the differences between the Republican and Democratic parties. Overview Opinion is the driving force of politics, and this unit examines how opinion acts upon the structures and processes of government (which were described and analyzed in the first part of this course). When a critical mass of citizens feels strongly about an issue, they pressure Congress to pass laws favorable to their opinion or they vote a president in or out. Controversial topics in American society today include:

· Abortion

· Stem-Cell Research

· Death Penalty

· Welfare

· Gun Control

· Patriot Act

· Guantanamo

· Deficit Spending

· Illegal Immigration

· Same-sex Marriage

· Marijuana

The Spectrum of Opinion: Liberal, Conservative, Populist and Libertarian The United States has four political cultures: Conservative, Liberal, Populist and Libertarian, with the first two being the most dominant. Conservatives, who today tend to affiliate with the Republican Party, also tend to prefer order; and liberals, who tend to affiliate with the Democratic Party, tend to prefer equality, but there are much more profound differences to be explored below. Again, the United States is primarily characterized by a spectrum of opinion ranging from liberal on the left to conservative on the right. Traditionally, most people were in the middle, but in recent decades there has been a polarization of opinion. Today, liberals are very liberal and conservatives are very conservative, with fewer people occupying the middle ground. Conservative Thought Conservatives prefer that the government stay out of the economy as much as possible. They see government regulation as interference. Also, conservatives believe that the overall economy performs best when industry and management is given wide latitude. Specifically, these views pertain to “economic conservatism." In this same line of thinking, economic conservatives place little faith in affirmative action programs to lift up the lives of the poor and of minorities; they prefer to contribute to a culture of hard work and sacrifice. For this reason, conservatives tend to support standardized testing in schools and performance-based pay for teachers. Most conservatives also believe in a strong moral order, which means that the government must frame culture, regulating individual behavior: drug addiction, homosexuality and other forms of behavior that oppose traditional morality. One reason for this is that most conservatives (but not all) also self-identify themselves as Christians or with related terms: evangelicals, born-again Christians, fundamentalists or Dominionists. Most Christians would point out that the Bible is clear regarding matters of personal and sexual morality. “Conservative” justices of the Supreme Court who practice “judicial restraint” believe that the U.S. Constitution should be considered: 1) as literally as possible; and, 2) with the “original intent” of the signers. This tends to advance the concept of “States’ rights.” The criticism often made against conservatives is that they have a reflexive tendency towards authoritarianism and protecting the powerful against the powerless; that the States’ rights argument is a thinly-disguised excuse to perpetuate race and class imbalances; that conservative judges are in fact “activist” when it comes to imposing conservative morality (like prohibiting States from legalizing medical marijuana); and that the Founding Fathers never intended the Constitution to be fossilized in the 18th century. Liberal Thought Liberals (left-wing) want to government to intervene in the economy in order to produce a leveling of social differences and to help the disadvantaged – not just the poor or minority groups, but also the disabled, the uninsured, illegal immigrants and other classes of people. Liberals have also been in favor of heavy government regulation of industry in order to protect the environment, and the “global warming” issue is high on the agenda. Liberals tend to not want the government to interfere in personal matters. They approve of government in the corporate boardroom, but not in the private bedroom. Many liberals wish to see the legalization of same-sex marriage, and they do not want the government to censor “obscene” material in the media. Liberals also tend to favor the Roe v. Wade decision that allows abortion. Perhaps paradoxically, liberals tend to favor the legalization of drugs (in order to treat the drug problem as a medical one), but the near criminalization of tobacco. Liberals are also wary of any “excessive entanglement” between Church and State, and share Thomas Jefferson’s preference for a “wall of separation.” This philosophy originally emerged from the “Enlightenment” era and its populist reaction to perceived abuses by the alliance between Church and Crown – an alliance which had been cemented by the “Divine Right of Kings.” Some liberals wish to repeal the Second Amendment, with its right to bear arms, and others even reject the interpretation of the right to bear arms as extending to private citizens. “Liberal” justices who advocate or practice “judicial activism” or “active liberty” believe that the Constitution should be a living document, a flexible text that needs to adapt to the times. The Constitution, they believe, needs to allow for the expansion and growth of individual liberty and minority rights. There are, however, two additional political philosophies in the United States: populism and libertarianism. While nor dominant, they sometimes emerge in third parties or movements. Populist Populists tend to come from the Upper Midwest, where small farmers needed government protection against the abuses of railroad monopolies, and where industrial workers’ unions depended upon government to take their side in negotiations with industry. Populists prefer government intervention in the economy in order to prevent abuses of power and monopoly capitalism. While both right-wing and left-wing populists tend to be “economic populists,” “conservative populists” are moralistic in social and sexual matters while “progressive populists” are more libertarian. Populists of both stripes are strongest in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. Libertarians Libertarians tend to favor a reduced role of the government in both the economy and in the culture. They agree with conservatives in economic and financial matters; they agree with liberals in cultural matters, even to the point of allowing for gambling and prostitution (in Nevada). Libertarians are strongest in Nevada and Montana. Simply put, and as a generalization, conservatives want small government in the economy and big government in the culture. Liberals want small government in the culture and big government in the economy. Libertarians want small government in both spheres; populists want large government in both spheres. It has been said that Americans are now tending to gravitate toward holding either quite liberal or quite conservative views on the above issues. Fewer people, apparently, occupy the political center than before, but the degree of political distance between one side and another, or “polarization” in American society is difficult to measure, and some political scientists wonder if we are more divided today than a generation ago. Generally speaking, the more passionate one’s opinions are the more active one will participate in politics. Abortion is an emotional issue that creates much activity among “pro-life” and “pro-choice” citizens. Aside from the normal way of participating in politics – voting – these activists join demonstrations, make telephone calls and use the courts to advance their cause. Clearly, polarization is evident today in Congress. Republican and Democratic members of Congress are not in agreement regarding numerous issues, such as health care, and many other issues. One reason for the political polarization in the U.S. is that the Cold War is over. For 50 years, having a common enemy (the USSR) unified Republicans and Democrats on many basic issues. While the global war on terror provided a short-term sense of unity, and political rivalries today are intense. Many members of Congress take their political cues from opinion polls, which measure how people feel about the issues listed above. Pollsters fan out across the country to ask people a few questions as they conduct their daily business. Other pollsters use the telephone or Internet, asking people for a few minutes of their time. But, how do people actually form their political opinions? One’s family is an important factor. A father or mother’s political orientation is often passed down to children at the kitchen table. Teachers and peers also play a role. Increasingly, mass media and cable news (like Fox or CNN) help shape peoples’ ideas. These ideas – and the people who hold them – end up affiliating with rival political parties and political cultures. It is useful to point out that reasonable and principled people can hold either liberal and/or conservative views. Unfortunately, the media and the campaign trail have given way, recently, to a “demonization” of one side or another. Radio “shock jocks” on the left or right ignore that the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution contain both liberal and conservative principles. As a final thought, conservative economic policies are largely responsible for the dynamism and innovation which animate the American economy; and liberal policies are responsible for ending child labor in the United States, providing wheelchair ramps for the disabled and launching “Head Start.” Both philosophies have contributed to the betterment of the nation. The Demographics of Opinion “Demographics” refers to the study of populations and, in this case, how different population groups exhibit different political opinions and voting patterns. Gender and Opinion On many issues, there is not much difference between the opinions of men and women, but regarding military intervention, for example, men are considerably more pro-intervention and pro-military than women. In greater numbers than men, women tend to back diplomatic solutions to international problems, even if such approaches do not appear to produce immediate results. On other issues, there is a surprising disparity of opinion. Throughout the 1970s, for example, more men than women (as a percentage) were actually in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment (or ERA) which would have changed the U.S. Constitution to eliminate any separate treatment based on gender. Conservative groups, religious organizations and political action committees formed largely by women were largely responsible for blocking the ERA (for better or for worse). Political pundits have long speculated over the “gender gap” come election time. Women tend to vote more Democratic than men, who tend to vote more Republican. This difference is narrowing, however, due in large part to the number of Christian women in 2004 who voted against Senator Kerry because of his liberalist leanings. The role of gender in politics is certainly lessening over time, however. Women have already won most of the legal and political battles that impeded their professional progress. Also, mainstream American culture no longer exerts as much pressure on women to become wives or mothers, as this was the social pressure that in past decades led to a resistant feminist movement. Arguably, a much more defining factor in political opinion is race more than gender. Race and Opinion The question of racial or ethnic identity and political opinion and voting has preoccupied political scientists for generations. Generally speaking, political scientists have measured all non-Anglo groups against the Anglo norm, as this was up until recently the dominant group numerically. Today, Anglos are still in the majority, but barely, and in many states, like Texas, Anglos are a “majority-minority,” meaning that Hispanics and African-Americans together outnumber Anglos. Thus, many of the older assumptions and categories no longer apply – especially as new generations of Americans are born of one Anglo parent and another Hispanic parent, for example. Still, the field of political science has always assumed that Anglos were more or less evenly divided along liberal and conservative lines, nationally speaking. Geography and class then provided further subdivisions. For a long time, Hispanics tended to vote Democratic, but today Hispanics resemble the Anglo population in that its vote is not necessarily one-sided or predictable. For the purposes of this course, “Hispanics” are Americans of Latin American descent (from many countries), and they are to be distinguished from “Mexicans” and even from “Mexican-Americans,” as this latter group often retains many legal, political and cultural connections to Mexico. Similarly “Latinos” does not include the notion of having put down roots in America; tourists can be Latinos. “Hispanics,” by contrast, are a fully American group. A new and interesting theory is emerging in Political Science (and by no means universally accepted): If a wave of Mexican immigrants are regularized or legalized in the United States (through amnesty or whatever other program), it is possible that they would vote Democratic in the short run (out of economic interest), but Republican in the long run (being culturally conservative). African-American citizens have fairly stable political opinions regarding the liberal-conservative spectrum, although in recent years a small, but vocal, minority within the African-American community has taken a conservative turn. Still, African-Americans remain the most politically stable population in that they rarely fall below a 90% voting rate for the Democratic Party. Traditionally, African-Americans have held liberal beliefs in that they have looked to the federal government for redress and solutions to problems of racial discrimination. After all, in many southern states, white majorities denied African-Americans real access to election polls, to adequate public education and even to justice in the courts under the banner of “states’ rights.” For Reverand Martin Luther King Jr., the federal government (and specifically the Supreme Court) was the only weapon available to break the back of southern racial segregation. For similar reasons, African-Americans have looked to the federal government to intervene in the economy – and to mass movements to demand federal action. This liberal or progressive line of thought is evident in the philosophies of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

 

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

-Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King

Not all African-Americans agree, however. A few, like Alan Keyes, believe that federal programs have created a culture of dependency among African-Americans, and that the “reverse discrimination” of affirmative action and quotas has produced a backlash of resentment, moving the country even further away from being colorblind. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice are two African Americans who do not think the federal government should be as activist regarding racial matters as it once was, and they also put faith in the defense establishment and in the military.

So, while Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson continue in the liberal-progressive current of Martin Luther King, Alan Keyes represents a much smaller but still growing group of conservative African-Americans. Just how small are they? Only about 11% of African-Americans voted for President George W. Bush in the 2004 election. On cultural issues, African-Americans are about as equally divided as other demographic groups. African-American participation in church is high, and these religious affiliations tend to produce what they would describe as pro-life and pro-family opinions. Other African-Americans, more secular and tending to live in larger metropolitan centers, tend to hold more liberal attitudes about culture. Compared to Anglo Americans, African-Americans do reflect a much more liberal or progressive set of ideas regarding the role of the federal government in the economy and in politics. African-Americans are also largely opposed to the Iraq War – a position held long before the war became unpopular among whites as well. The Republican and Democratic Parties The United States has a two-party system with occasional third parties and numerous smaller parties. These third parties will be examined in a subsequent unit. The two-party system is the product of U.S. election law, which has a “winner-take-all” electoral system. For example, a presidential candidate who wins the state of California by one vote carries all its electoral votes for that state; his opponent gets zero. For this reason, political forces tend to congregate around one or the other party. Generally speaking, Republicans and Democrats have represented two rival cultural groups. The Republican Party The modern Republican Party is built upon a coalition of white-collar management, investors, agribusiness, conservative religious groups, Cuban-Americans and established Hispanics. The Republican Party is primarily geared towards protecting the free-market system and preserving traditional family values. This is the party that includes Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan. The Republican Party also prides itself on its effort to restore the work ethic and eliminate the culture of dependency on a welfare state. President Ronald Reagan was one of the first Republican presidents to attempt to roll back many of the social programs begun in FDR’s “New Deal” or with Johnson’s “Great Society.” The Republican Party is also more popular with people in the military, as Republicans have been traditionally seen as stronger supporters of national defense. The Republican Party has traditionally led challenges to Fidel Castro’s Cuba, the Soviet Union and other communist regimes. Critics of the Republicans would say that in recent years the Republicans have moved away from free market principles to the protection of monopolies. Also, critics of the Republican Party charge that too many of its members launched head first into Iraq without questioning the consequences of having a protracted occupation. Another major criticism of Republicans is that too many place great faith in the federal government and its intelligence services, which might lead to a “Big Brother” government of domestic spying. One vocal critic of the Republican Party is actually a Republican from Texas with libertarian leanings, Ron Paul. In a recent debate with the other Republican candidates, he reminded them that the Republicans used to be truly “conservative” and opposed to military intervention unless absolutely necessary; opposed to nation-building; and opposed to excessively large defense budgets. This echoes President Dwight Eisenhower, also a Republican, who warned Americans of the rapid growth of a “military-industrial complex.” Today, the Republican Party might be better described as “neo-conservative” than “conservative,” as it has put some distance between itself and the ideas of previous Republican administrations. The Democratic Party The modern Democratic Party is built upon the “New Deal” coalition of industrial blue-collar workers, immigrants, minority groups (particularly African-Americans), small farmers, teachers and academics. This New Deal coalition was pieced together by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930s, when free-market capitalism collapsed during the Great Depression. As FDR and his backers saw it, there was no choice left to the U.S. government than to expand programs of training and entitlements. This is the Party of FDR, John F Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. This New Deal coalition has changed somewhat, as unions are no longer powerful. Still, people in large cities and immigrant groups tend to vote Democratic. The Democratic Party tends to attract people who self-identify as progressives, liberals, modernists and secularists. Democrats pride themselves on being the party of JFK, who launched the Apollo program to reach the moon and who started the Peace Corps. Critics of the Democratic Party would say that the Democratic Party has gone too far in the direction of providing “free lunches” with a vast array of social services, and that the party is steadily constructing a cradle-to-grave welfare system. Finally, conservative Republicans do not like the tendency among many Democrats to be in favor of same-sex marriage and the decriminalization of drugs. Also, detractors of the party insist that Democrats are weak on national defense, and that they would not take strong military action against Iran or North Korea if the crisis became extreme. Conclusion It used to be that most people were strongly Democratic or Republican – that their sense of “party ID” was pronounced. Then, beginning in the 1970s, more Americans became “Independent,” voting in one election for a Republican and in another for a Democrat – depending on the candidate. Many voters increasingly split their vote, voting for a Republican national candidate and, on the same ballot, a Democratic local candidate. Today, while there is an increasing degree of polarization in terms of ideology; people are not necessarily turning toward traditional political parties for guidance.