This is a few comments about this book: Why We're Polarized by Ezra Klein. I just finished the paperback, which has an updated Afterword to reflect on the 2020 election. Read that one!
If you have been wondering what the heck has happened to the two major political parties in this country, this is the clearest understanding that I have found. I highly recommend it.
Since the 2016 election, I read a pile of things about elections, politics, and psychological research to try to figure out what he heck happened. Ezra Klein, this author has read every thing that I have, and many more. And he is brilliant. He tells his insight carefully, with stories and anecdotes. You really have to follow along with what he writes to understand it fully - but I made a few notes as I read that might entice you to learn more.
He references a lot of research on how humans and groups operate. He has been observing this political scene as a reporter and participant for decades. He is very perceptive and has great insights.
Book Summary
Quote: "So here, then, is the last fifty years of American politics summarized: we became more consistent in the party we vote for not because we came to like our party more—indeed, we’ve come to like the parties we vote for less—but because we came to dislike the opposing party more. Even as hope and change sputter, fear and loathing proceed. The question is why all this happened. What changed in American politics such that voters became so reliably partisan?"
Our History Is Important
Here is one item I knew, but had not really adverted to in a while. I thought things were going just fine, switching from Democratic to Republican leaders from time to time - but I missed the fact that the Northern Democrats let the South do terrible things to their constituents. The north knew it and tolerated it to get the southern Democrats to support some of their programs. That all ended with the voting rights bill - and that ended the southern Democratic party. They were now free to become Republicans, and to push subtle, and not so subtle racism and elitist control of their citizens.
Page 22 quote:
The Dixiecrats gave the national Democrats the votes they needed to control Congress, and the national Democrats let the Dixiecrats enforce segregation and one-party rule at home.
The Dixiecrat-Democrat pact is a powerful reminder that there are worse things than polarization, that what’s now remembered as a golden age in American politics was purchased at a terrible cost. In his book Paths Out of Dixie: The Democratization of Authoritarian Enclaves in America’s Deep South, Robert Mickey argues:
In the 1890s leaders of the eleven states of the old Confederacy founded stable, one-party authoritarian enclaves under the “Democratic” banner. Having secured a conditional autonomy from the central state and the national party, these rulers curtailed electorates, harassed and repressed opposition parties, and created and regulated racially separate—and significantly unfree—civic spheres. State-sponsored violence enforced these elements in a system that ensured cheap agricultural labor and white supremacy.3
During much of the twentieth century, the Democratic Party’s rule in the South was hegemonic. At times, Democrats occupied a stunning 95 percent of all elected offices, and as is true with authoritarian rulers everywhere, they did so in part by suppressing free and fair elections. African American voters were legally barred from voting in many cases and, when that didn’t work, beaten or even killed for trying to exercise the franchise. During his 1946 reelection campaign, Democratic senator Theodore Bilbo was chillingly blunt: “You and I know what’s the best way to keep the nigger from voting. You do it the night before the election. I don’t have to tell you any more than that. Red-blooded men know what I mean.”5 He won the race.
End of quote - sorry to copy that much text - I know I am pushing the "fair use" doctrine.
This has become ever more clear. We belong to groups, we have an identity that is built up in our group. This is fundamental to our psychological makeup. Our group acts on us, without us even being aware of it.
We are not rational about what we do.
Most of our "feelings" or "inclinations" are automatic reactions to threat, to our world, and to our group. We are not actually consciously in control of that process. We are primarily "feeling" entities.
Our Politics is all "Identity Politics"
We tend to vote with our group, the group with which we identify. The problem in the past few decades is that our multiple identities, as members of very different groups, has been collapsing. People tend to identify now with only similar gorup members. I much more readily identify with my political identity than was the case in the past.
The US form of Government is Unique on the Planet
This was a bit of news to me, but it is true. No one has successfully adopted our direct election of the executive branch with any success. It is prone to abuse and gridlock, that the party in charge of the legislature cannot automatically execute their plans. We also have the major problems of our federal system, which has given disproportionate weight through the Senate to a very small minority of citizens who occupy sparsely settled states.
The Way our Government Operates is Not Amenable to Highly Polarized Parties
It used to work at one time, when we could discuss ideas, and work out practical compromises. That no longer works, at least not with the Republican Party. Because of our form of government, the minority party no longer feels any compunction to enable government to actually operate. They can do everything in their power to destroy the opposition, with no fear of any retribution in the future. I do not understand why the Democrats refuse to blow away the Senate Filibuster.
A Short List of Suggestions
Mr. Klein has a short list of suggestions in the new afterword, that are worth considering. None of them is a magic bullet, but all of them would help . What we really need is to adopt a parliamentary framework, but that is not within any foreseeable future. We would be more likely to accept an authoritarian demagogue than a parliamentary government.
- Debt ceiling - This is purely a legal construct which was adopted that makes it impossible to do anything without a super majority. Get rid of it. If you want even more on this, read my entry on MMT: https://carlscheider.blogspot.com/2021/03/book-review-and-celebration-deficit-myth.html
- Electoral college by state law change - The constitution cannot be amended to change this, but it can be bypassed by the state law that requires votes to be cast for the winner of the popular vote. See this short explanation: National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
- Rank choice voting. This encourages new third parties, and allows candidates who are not absolute mainstream to get elected.
- Senate filibuster. This is purely a rule of the Senate, and it is time for it to go.
- New states - DC and Puerto Rico. Millions of citizens with a weakened voice. Fix it. It will not cure the Senate power imbalance, but it is a step. Personally, I would split California and New York - but that is not going to happen anytime soon.
- Automatic voter registration. Simple, solves major problems with getting all of us to vote.
- Vote by mail. Same - and it is simple to do. That is why the Republican party opposes it so strongly.
- Gerrymandering. HR-1 in all of its glory would accomplish this and much more. It needs to get a hearing in the Senate. The Republicans are holding onto power in small pockets that would be dispersed.
- Supreme Court redesign. There are many ideas here, more than just packing the court with additional seats. What about term limits, 15 members. 5 each party, and 5 named by the court itself?
- Identity mindfulness! I found this one pretty amazing and insightful. He is not exactly talking about meditation - just our identity mindfulness. Meditation helps, but it is really just paying attention to our mental processes. Some research indicates that this actually works.
Page 263: "There are reams of research showing that our reaction to political commentary and information we don’t like is physical. Our breathing speeds up, our pupils narrow, our hearts beat faster. Trying to be aware of how politics makes us feel, of what happens when our identities are activated, threatened, or otherwise inflamed, is a necessary first step to gaining some control of the process."
A Wise Word About Not Worrying about all of this!
He has some other wisdom which has helped me quite a bit.
Try to ignore the stuff you cannot affect - think globally, but focus locally.
Page 265 "But I’ll be blunt here in a way that cuts against my professional interests: we give too much attention to national politics, which we can do very little to change, and too little attention to state and local politics, where our voices can matter much more."
Instead, focus on things that you can manage and change. Work for local officials, Volunteer in peace and justice and education efforts in your town that support your perspective. Be content with that.
Don't Argue with Folk.
AND do not to argue with the other side. Reasoning with them will not work - this is not a logic problem. Getting upset with them will only reaffirm their commitment. Most people really do not read the newspaper, or political books and articles. They simply follow the crowd they are part of. They have deep, immediate emotional reactions to these topics. Do not blame them.
If you do interact with the "other" side, listen, listen, listen. Reflect back what they say. Just repeat it - you don't need to agree. That will create a bond. Ask them to clarify. Ask them for their reasons. Ask them to explain things to you. It may help them examine their ideas. It is the only thing that has been found to work. They are reacting emotionally, without a great deal of thought. See this bit: Changing Someone's View.
My BEST case - unfortunately:
Remember that the Democratic victory in 2020 was a very near thing!
QUOTE: "First, it’s worth admitting the unnerving closeness of the result. In 2016, Trump won because of 40,000 voters in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. In 2020, he lost because of 22,000 voters in Wisconsin, Georgia, and Arizona—if those votes had flipped, the electoral college would’ve been tied, and the election would’ve been decided by state congressional delegations, which Republicans control."
God Help Us All.
I will leave you with this final quote from the book:
Page 267 "I get asked often whether I’m optimistic or pessimistic about American politics. I think I’m an optimist, but that’s because I try to hold to realism about our past. For all our problems, we have been a worse and uglier country at almost every other point in our history."
