Political Division

I grew up in a friendly neighborhood on a dead-end street. Everyone knew their neighbors. It was the baby boom that followed WWII. The kids all played together and the adults socialized with neighborhood barbecues, children’s birthday parties, and other events. Politics were a minor distraction. I had an Eisenhower for President sticker on my Radio-Flyer wagon and I’m sure there were a few Stevenson stickers on bumpers in the neighborhood. Nobody talked politics with any measure of concern.

Somewhere between Eisenhower and Donald Trump, the political landscape changed. We have become a nation sorely divided by political party affiliation. The people are the same, but somehow things are different.

The first tectonic shift involved the party realignment of the mid-sixties driven by the “Southern Strategy.” This was when Civil Rights legislation under Lyndon Johnson caused white conservative southerners to leave the Democratic party. The Democratic South became a new Republican stronghold. Race and religion became political wedges. The moral crusades of abortion and school prayer then became GOP weapons under Reagan.

We saw the nationalization of congressional elections where local races were driven by national issues. Partisan straight-ticket voting was more about party direction than individual appeal. This was championed in 1994 as the “Republican Revolution” led by Newt Gingrich. This period introduced a more combative and polarized style of federal governance.

We also saw the rise of partisan media and the end of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, when FCC rules for balanced reporting were abandoned. This coincided with the rise of 24-hour cable news networks and partisan talk radio. We no longer discussed differing viewpoints and vied for the reassurance of echo chambers. These were spaces where social, cultural, and political views went unchallenged.

Politicians saw division as a strategic tool to simplify strategy, solidify loyal bases, and hold power. They tapped into deeply held social and cultural ties fostering group identity. The emotions of fear and anger were powerful drivers to get out the vote and entice donations. They were also distractors when attention needed to be steered away from political failures.

I can only hope that our own humanity will prevail and see us through this politically imposed division. Party identity should be subservient to the phrase first used by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, “My fellow Americans.”

We need to see our neighbors for what they are, just other folks sailing troubled waters in the same boat. We are not Republicans, or Democrats, or any other political cult, we are just individuals with many common goals. We should spend our time debating our priorities and methods of achieving those goals through compromise. The only thing in the way of a successful outcome and a better life for all Americans, seems to be opportunistic politicians. Political division benefits the political grifters, not the people.