My kid better not marry Cass Sunstein
It’s even worse for actual governance.
Great to hear from you Cass, as always. The Office of Information is a sacred place, needless to say. Taken advantage of any fake email accounts lately?
posted by ColumbusGuy @ 5:05 AM
5 Comments:
I could see this. Probably exacerbated by Trumpism. Evidence of support for Trump probably will be disqualifying several positions in the future (assuming he loses, if he wins, the mushroom clouds will take care of all this)
I've seen this in action. Recently, a friend joked to me about how he could take anyone his daughter wanted to marry except a Republican. He thought he was being funny, but I was quietly revolted.
Sunstein does make a mistake in saying negative ads from Trump and Clinton will exacerbate the problem. He's assuming that, he hasn't proved it, or shown it to be true.
Note that Sunstein buries the lead. According to his article, blacks prefer blacks and white also prefer blacks. Sounds like news to me.
This might be a chicken and egg sort of things. Have people gotten more polarized in their feelings because the parties got more polarized, or did people get more polarized and brought the parties along with them. Also, why would the two sides line up so much more strongly against each other? There are theories about this, but no one knows for sure.
Oddly enough, I think Partyism (if that's a word now) grew out of the effort of the Parties to expand their bases. When American party's lessened their focus on principles, and instead viewed the electorate as voting blocks to be annexed, politics became a team sport.
First look how actual team sports work. If you are a "homer", your team is number one, right or wrong. New Engalnders (sorry NEG) readily forgive Tom Brady for whatever part he had in deflategate (which remains unproven despite destroyed cell phones and low level testimony). Arch rivals are aghast at blatant cheating and revel in his 4 game suspension (finally!).
Now this tribalism is largely harmless in sports (except when an LA Dodger fan murders a SF Giant fan). But Cass is right that in politics it is potentially debilitating. When Parties were essentially exclusive clubs for political thinkers, the general populous could vote based on espoused principles, or superficial popularity, but in either case the masses felt a healthy distance between their elected leaders and themselves, at least at the national level. Republicans and Democrats could trade light barbs over the backyard cookout with neighbors and still go bowling together the next day.
Maybe Lincoln was the first President to begin breaking down this separation, running the first "average joe" campaign to win. Later, Democrats would hit on the idea of turning their principled support of increased worker's rights into team building, with unions as the line-backers urged (required?) to vote straight ticket. Republicans would introduce player poaching, seeking to flip a whole class of voters through the Southern Straegy of Richard Nixon.
The problem with team-mentality politics is it becomes heresy to try and change one's party from within. You are either with us or against us. My expectation is that that mantra will lead to mass defections to a third team yet to be invented. But until then, GO BRONCOS.
Okay, DG, and any other Guy who cares to, here's the simple challenge:
Can you give me any instance, in print, since 1996, in which Cass has taken a position that supports Bush or a a conservative at the expense of a Democrat, or condemns with consequence a Democrat in a way that supports either a conservative position or W Bush?
I've got a dollar that says there is no such instance in all that time. It ought to be easy enough to do. Just a single instance would serve to negate the proposition.
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