Polarization

As I ponder my debate with Tom the Democrat (Debating a Democrat, 2/18/06) and read the comments from Brian, Dori, Dave, Greg, Jim, John, Prim, Ray, Tom R. on my side, and from Andy, Anonymous and Tex on Tom’s side, I wonder: Are we the same species? Or is it that Republicans (not men) come from Mars, while Democrats (not women) come from Venus?

Does the obvious polarization apply only to the Iraq war issue or is there a more fundamental, more widespread divide? James Q. Wilson addressed this question in his article “How Divided Are We” in the Feb. 2006 issue of Commentary magazine. Wilson defines polarization as “an intense commitment to a candidate, a culture, or an ideology that sets people in one group definitively apart from people in another, rival group.” When it comes to the presidency of George W. Bush or the war in Iraq, polarization is the operable term. What about other issues?

Dave Barry summed up the distinction between Republicans and Democrats in his own unique way: Republicans are “ignorant racist fascist knuckle-dragging NASCAR-obsessed cousin-marrying road-kill-eating tobacco-juice-dribbling gun-fondling religious fanatic rednecks,” while Democrats are “godless unpatriotic pierced-nose Volvo-driving France-loving leftwing Communist latte-sucking tofu-chomping holistic-wacko neurotic vegan weenie perverts.” It does sound a bit like Mars vs. Venus.

But, seriously, the most significant issues that separate us, in addition to the war in Iraq, are the use of military strength, abortion, judicial activism, entitlements and social secularization.

Since the Reagan era, Republicans have believed that “the best way to ensure peace is through military strength.” By the late 1990’s well over two-thirds of all Republicans agreed with this view, but far fewer than half of all Democrats did.

In the fall of 2005, according to Gallup, 81 percent of Democrats but only 20 percent of Republicans thought the war in Iraq was a mistake. Three-fourths of all Democrats but less than a third of all Republicans told pollsters that good diplomacy was the best way to ensure peace. In the same survey, two-thirds of all Republicans but only one fourth of all Democrats said they would fight for this country “whether it is right or wrong.” This is Mars vs. Venus at its most elemental.

In his book “Culture War: The Myth of a Polarized America,” Morris Fiorina looked at the abortion issue. Between 1973, when Roe v. Wade was decided, and now, Fiorina writes, there has been no change in the degree to which people will or will not accept any one of six reasons to justify an abortion: (1) the woman’s health is endangered; (2) she became pregnant because of a rape; (3) there is a strong chance of a fetal defect; (4) the family has a low income; (5) the woman is not married; (6) and the woman simply wants no more children.

Only about 40 percent of all Americans will support abortion for any of the last three reasons in his series, while over 80 percent will support it for one or another of the first three. Almost all Americans support abortion in the case of maternal emergency, but fewer than half if it is simply a matter of the mother’s preference.

That profoundly important split has remained in place for over three decades, but Fiorina misses that it affects how people vote. In 2000 and again in 2004, 70 percent of those who thought abortion should always be legal voted for Al Gore or John Kerry, while over 70 percent of those who thought it should always be illegal voted for George Bush.

These divisions are fundamental, deep and long lasting. I’ll take a look at judicial activism, entitlement spending (socialism) and secularization in a future post. My opinion is that it is not possible for both political parties to exist over the long term with such chasms between us.