{"id":4346,"date":"2020-01-29T12:58:43","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T17:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=4346"},"modified":"2020-01-29T13:01:26","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T18:01:26","slug":"ezra-klein-on-why-were-polarized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=4346","title":{"rendered":"Ezra Klein on Why We\u2019re Polarized"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ezra Klein opens the concluding chapter of his new book \u2013 Why We\u2019re Polarized<\/em> \u2013 with this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI should level with you. I don\u2019t like concluding chapters. Authors write whole books about devilishly complex social problems and then pretend they can be solved in a few bullet points.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And then he proceeds, without pretending, to his three bullet points \u2013 three approaches to overcoming our polarization \u2013 bombproofing, democratizing and balancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bombproofing<\/em>. \u201cWe know that one result of our polarizing parties is that bipartisan agreement is becoming harder to achieve,\u201d he writes. \u201cWe know that politicians are becoming more responsive to a media that amplifies conflict and a base that loathes weakness. We know that confrontation and paralysis have become divided government\u2019s natural state. Some of that political combat is necessary. Some of that gridlock simply reflects a divided country. But we should limit the damage it can do. We should, to the extent possible and consistent with political accountability, bombproof the government\u2019s operations against political disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How? Front and center \u2013 get rid of the debt ceiling. \u201cThe debt ceiling could take routine bickering in Congress and transform it into a full-blown global financial crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratizing. <\/em>\u201cIf we want politicians to adopt a broader and less polarizing approach to both politics and policy, we need to make them responsible for putting together broader, less polarized coalitions,\u201d Klein writes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How? Do away with the archaic electoral college. Proportional representation for House elections. In the Senate, get rid of the filibuster. Overall, make voting easier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe alternative to democratizing America is scarier than mere polarization: it\u2019s a legitimacy crisis that could threaten the very foundation of our political system. By 2040, 70 percent of Americans will live in the fifteen largest states. That means 70 percent of America will be represented by only thirty senators, while the other 30 percent of America will be represented by seventy senators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Balancing.<\/em> \u201cA central problem in any free political system is how to secure balanced competition. The problem in our system is that what we balanced for is no longer what\u2019s competing. Today, the strongest and most politically important identities are partisan identities. We don\u2019t talk about big states and small states but about red states and blue states. If there is a threat to American unity, it rests not in the specific concerns of Virginians or Alaskans but in the growing enmity between Democrats and Republicans. And here\u2019s the thing: the Founders did not think about how to balance parties, because they didn\u2019t think parties would exist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Klein likes a proposal by law professors Daniel Epps and Ganesh Sitaraman who argue that the conflict swirling around the Supreme Court has reached dangerous levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEpps and Sitaraman suggest rebuilding the Supreme Court so it has fifteen justices: each party gets to appoint five, and then the ten partisan justices must unanimously appoint the remaining five. Until all fifteen are agreed upon, the Court wouldn\u2019t be able to hear cases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get rid of the electoral college, the debt ceiling, reshape the Supreme Court, institute proportional representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about getting rid of the Democratic and Republican parties \u2013 the two corrupt drivers of polarization?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his farewell address, George Washington warned us against the partisanship of the political parties \u2013 \u201cThey put in place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community \u2013 and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Washington\u2019s attack on political parties was in fact a partisan move. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Klein quotes Princeton historian Sean Wilentz who wrote that Washington\u2019s farewell address was a \u201chighly partisan appeal delivered as an attack on partisanship and on the low demagogues who fomented it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWashington delivered the speech, co-written by Alexander Hamilton, as America was splitting into a two-party system \u2013 the Federalists, led by John Adams and Hamilton, and the Democratic Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison,\u201d Klein writes. \u201cWashington was, in effect, a Federalist, and in warning against the development of factions, he was warning against those who had arisen to challenge his chosen successors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Wilentz wrote, \u201cWashington\u2019s address never explicitly mentioned Jefferson or his supporters, but its unvarnished attack on organized political opposition was plainly directed against them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The body of Klein\u2019s book is filled with fascinating social science research into how, why and the extent to which we have become polarized around party lines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Klein reports, for example, that in 1960, Americans were asked whether they would be pleased, displeased, or unmoved if their son or daughter married a member of the other political party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnly 5 percent of Republicans and 4 percent of Democrats said they would be upset by the cross-party union. On the list of things you might care about in a child\u2019s partner \u2013 are they kind, smart, successful, supportive? \u2013 which political party they voted for just didn\u2019t rate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2010, the results were much different \u2013 49 percent of Republicans and 33 percent of Democrats professed concern at interparty marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why isn\u2019t the answer to polarization — everyone become independent? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Klein portrays a polarized system defined by political parties whose existence we decry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe mistrust ideologues and partisans,\u201d Klein says. \u201cWe venerate centrists, moderates, independents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Klein then cites research showing that self-proclaimed independents were more stable in which party they supported than self-described partisans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to say that again,\u201d Klein wrote. \u201cToday\u2019s independents vote more predictably for one party over the other than yesteryear\u2019s partisans. That\u2019s a remarkable fact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While that might be true, it is easier to have a conversation with a self-described independent than with a self-described Democrat or Republican. And it\u2019s easier to have that conversation about local politics than it is about national politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Klein concludes his conclusion with this advice \u2013 be mindful (\u201cThe idea here is to become more aware of the ways that politicians and media manipulate us.\u201d) and go local (\u201cIt\u2019s possible to make local and in-state news sources a bigger part of your media diet and thus make your local political identity more powerful.\u201d) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, let\u2019s modify that a bit and boil it down to four simple baby steps not involving the debt ceiling, the Supreme Court or the electoral college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read this book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be mindful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Register independent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Go local.

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ezra Klein opens the concluding chapter of his new book \u2013 Why We\u2019re Polarized \u2013 with this:  \u201cI should level with you. I don\u2019t like concluding chapters. Authors write whole books about devilishly complex social problems and then pretend they … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4346"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4350,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4346\/revisions\/4350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}