The political realignment post-trump is an interesting phenomenon. Broadly speaking: The Republican Party and conservative movement, while moving hard right on social and cultural issues, is becoming less interventionist on foreign policy and less laissez faire on economics (at least in rhetoric if not always in practice). Dems and mainstream liberals meanwhile have gone super woke on gender and diversity issues but they #standwithukraine and seem to have forgotten the lessons of Vietnam and Iraq. Free speech is no longer sacrosanct for them (because of “hate speech” and “misinformation”), deplatforming is not a problem because “it’s a private company they can do whatever they want” and anyone who supports restrictions on immigration that dilutes working class wages is to them obviously white supremacist.
I’m making broad generalizations obviously and possibly exaggerating or caricaturing -- the point is that “left” and “right” don’t quite mean what they did when Reagan was in the White House.
At least.... in terms of policy agendas and stated ideology.
The demographic and geographic alignments may not have changed as much. ....
All Americans live with the subconscious knowledge that the good ole USA has two great stains upon its soul as a nation: The Scourge of Slavery and the Horror of Genocide against the Indigenous Peoples.
Throw in the use of atomic weapons in 1945 against defenseless men, women, and children at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and you have this weird dual consciousness that manifests on the Left as a hyper progressivism that in its most militant form appears as Super Wokeness while on the Right, Ultra Conservatism defends the Sacred Doctrine of American Exceptionalism to the death while providing cover for Neo-fascists and White Supremacists.
But all of that is Sooo 20th Century.
The American Empire is swirling the drain, folks. Right now we'll be lucky to make it to the end of this decade with the Union still intact.
The political realignment post-trump is an interesting phenomenon. Broadly speaking: The Republican Party and conservative movement, while moving hard right on social and cultural issues, is becoming less interventionist on foreign policy and less laissez faire on economics (at least in rhetoric if not always in practice). Dems and mainstream liberals meanwhile have gone super woke on gender and diversity issues but they #standwithukraine and seem to have forgotten the lessons of Vietnam and Iraq. Free speech is no longer sacrosanct for them (because of “hate speech” and “misinformation”), deplatforming is not a problem because “it’s a private company they can do whatever they want” and anyone who supports restrictions on immigration that dilutes working class wages is to them obviously white supremacist.
I’m making broad generalizations obviously and possibly exaggerating or caricaturing -- the point is that “left” and “right” don’t quite mean what they did when Reagan was in the White House.
At least.... in terms of policy agendas and stated ideology.
The demographic and geographic alignments may not have changed as much. ....
All Americans live with the subconscious knowledge that the good ole USA has two great stains upon its soul as a nation: The Scourge of Slavery and the Horror of Genocide against the Indigenous Peoples.
Throw in the use of atomic weapons in 1945 against defenseless men, women, and children at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and you have this weird dual consciousness that manifests on the Left as a hyper progressivism that in its most militant form appears as Super Wokeness while on the Right, Ultra Conservatism defends the Sacred Doctrine of American Exceptionalism to the death while providing cover for Neo-fascists and White Supremacists.
But all of that is Sooo 20th Century.
The American Empire is swirling the drain, folks. Right now we'll be lucky to make it to the end of this decade with the Union still intact.
And the Band Played On...