Despite
the prevalence of partisan politics and the ever-present debates on certain
high profile subjects—abortion, gay rights, gun control, etc.—I would hesitate
to say that there is a culture war. The “armies” are not numerous enough
and the issues are too few to constitute a full-blown war. Rather, I suggest that currently the
United States is feeling the effects of a number of extreme cultural
skirmishes. These skirmishes,
however, result more from extreme fringe groups running amok than the general
American public choosing sides.
It
may appear as though there is a complete culture war simply because these
fringe groups are so visible in American politics today. Both Wolfe and Hunter seem to agree
that the majority of Americans fall towards the middle of the spectrum on most
controversial issues. Wolfe in
particular makes an excellent point about the “incoherent center” that
basically sums up the problem—nothing represents the middle. He mentions the decline of “neutral
kinds of institutions” that could represent the middle’s policies, using the
Supreme Court’s recent predilection towards 5-4 splits as an example of the
polarization evident in American politics today.
Nonetheless,
we must make an important distinction between American politics and the American people. The American people are not involved in a culture war—at least, not to the
extent that the media portrays.
American politics is, and
American politics gets the attention of the media. Thus, the extreme sides of politics appear to take over
instead of the general views of the public. This restriction of cultural battles to the political arena
signifies the absence of a total war.
Though Americans are certainly politically divided, the division is not
pervasive enough to merit the label “war.”
Further reading:
It turns out that all three of these articles take for
granted the idea of a culture war existing in American society. Go figure.
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