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Politics : The Left Wing Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FaultLine who wrote (2278)	12/31/2000 11:32:31 AM
From: FaultLine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6089

Our Divide Is Social, Not Political By WILLIAM SCHNEIDER latimes.com <snip> Clinton created a consensus on policy, not on values. You can see the values split in the 2000 election map. The conservative heartland of the country went for Bush. Gore's support came from the liberal coasts and the liberal upper Midwest (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa), plus areas dominated by African Americans in the Mississippi Delta, Latinos in South Texas and Florida and Asian Americans in Hawaii. Lifestyle differences had a powerful impact on the way people voted. Urban America went heavily for Gore. Rural America went for Bush. Suburban voters were split. In the National Review, Kate O'Beirne labeled it "the zip-code election." Married voters went for Bush. Single voters for Gore. Regular churchgoers for Bush. Less religious voters for Gore. Gun owners came out for Bush. No guns meant Gore. Why does lifestyle suddenly matter so much? "Lifestyle" is a 1960s word, and Clinton was the first president to come out of the culture of the 1960s--sex, drugs ("I didn't inhale") and rock 'n' roll. Clinton is a hero to African Americans and Hollywood liberals and feminists because of his liberal values, not his centrist policies. Conservatives hate Clinton for the same reason: the values of the '60s, which conservatives believe have corrupted American culture with an ethic of self-indulgence. Read any book by Bill Bennett. "Why do you hate Clinton so much?" an interviewer asked a Chicago-area conservative during the impeachment hearings. "His policies have not been particularly radical." "I'll tell you why I hate Clinton," the activist responded. "I hate him because he's a womanizing, Elvis-loving, non-inhaling, truth-shading, war-pro testing, draft-dodging, abortion-protecting, gay-promoting, gun-hating baby boomer. That's why." It's the values, stupid. Impeachment and Florida were the latest skirmishes in the nation's ongoing cultural war. The election campaign was a contest over policy, and it brought Americans together. Elect either candidate and you'd get some version of Social Security reform, campaign finance reform, tax cuts, prescription drug coverage and a stronger federal role in education. <snip> Has American politics ever been this closely divided? Interestingly, yes--for 30 years after the Civil War. That war created a deep cultural divide: North versus South instead of left versus right. A president got impeached along straight party lines. For three decades, presidential elections were extremely close. So close that, in 1876 and 1888, the winner of the popular vote lost the electoral vote. Imagine that.