Correlation is not Causation: Why is the U.S. so politically divided?
Rush Limbaugh and Speaker Gingrich became prominent at roughly the time hyper-partisanship paralyzed the U.S.
The obvious perjury trap and impeachment of President Clinton was rather more Republican partisanship than citizenship, the first of many similar examples.
Cause & effect or not, the commercially successful Rush Limbaugh has caused a Republican party groundswell whose mantra is:
- Throw the bums out! -
- Drain the swamp! -
Before Limbaugh / EIB, there was partisan ideological overlap in the U.S. congress. The most conservative Democrat was more conservative than the most liberal Republican.
No more.
Why not?
Because the extremes, our representatives known as "the safe seats" come from voting districts where partisan / ideological diversity is low.
In the districts where ideological diversity is greater, and congressional election victories narrower, the election victors tended to be more moderate.
And so in our THROW THE BUMS OUT political climate, it is those moderates that are expelled; now to such degree, partisan ideological overlap in congress is gone.
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There's more to it than that.
Presidential candidates know where the 50:50 national political ideology dividing line is.
They know what policy positions they have to take to get that magical 50% + 1 vote majority.
And so while we may have the illusion that our ideological divide is objective; defined by god, or reality, or philosophers,
the fact is it's ideological territory staked out by candidates that want a winning strategy to win the election, and the office.
So here's the insight.
If you think it's Republicans against Democrats, think again.
It's a political duopoly.
The Democins and Republicrats have a shared lock on the U.S. political process.
The 3rd parties you see on your ballots are political also rans, insignificant in the greater scheme.
Rush Limbaugh and Speaker Gingrich became prominent at roughly the time hyper-partisanship paralyzed the U.S.
The obvious perjury trap and impeachment of President Clinton was rather more Republican partisanship than citizenship, the first of many similar examples.
Cause & effect or not, the commercially successful Rush Limbaugh has caused a Republican party groundswell whose mantra is:
- Throw the bums out! -
- Drain the swamp! -
Before Limbaugh / EIB, there was partisan ideological overlap in the U.S. congress. The most conservative Democrat was more conservative than the most liberal Republican.
No more.
Why not?
Because the extremes, our representatives known as "the safe seats" come from voting districts where partisan / ideological diversity is low.
In the districts where ideological diversity is greater, and congressional election victories narrower, the election victors tended to be more moderate.
And so in our THROW THE BUMS OUT political climate, it is those moderates that are expelled; now to such degree, partisan ideological overlap in congress is gone.
////////////////////// ! \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
There's more to it than that.
Presidential candidates know where the 50:50 national political ideology dividing line is.
They know what policy positions they have to take to get that magical 50% + 1 vote majority.
And so while we may have the illusion that our ideological divide is objective; defined by god, or reality, or philosophers,
the fact is it's ideological territory staked out by candidates that want a winning strategy to win the election, and the office.
So here's the insight.
If you think it's Republicans against Democrats, think again.
It's a political duopoly.
The Democins and Republicrats have a shared lock on the U.S. political process.
The 3rd parties you see on your ballots are political also rans, insignificant in the greater scheme.
