Is there a culture war?

Elizabeth Tavolier
AP Gov
Hour 1

Is there a culture war in America? 

       America is not a culturally divided nation. In his article for the Huffington Post, Craig Crawford writes that Obama has taken bounds in winning America's culture war. Crawford says that Obama is succeeding in uniting opinions of the middle class toward a common goal. I would argue that there wasn't a culture war for Obama to win. Throughout history America has become more and more culturally united. It's natural that as our country continues to grow and mature that its citizens would find ways to work out and unite their feelings. In his article "Are the 'Culture Wars' Alive and Well or is America Really Purple?" Stuart Muszynski acknowledges the indecisiveness of America's citizens to lean one way or the other. Democratic or Republican. I'm with Stuart. I think our country is purple. I feel that the majority of our population is divided in their own opinions of a political issue, never mind the opinions of other people.
    Overall, I feel that all things considered, America is culturally united. In a nation as culturally diverse as a America, it's expected that there will be differences in opinion. If one were to look at surveys on various political issues such as gay marriage, abortion, gun control, etc. yes, there would be overwhelming differences in opinion that practically divide the nation in half statistically. E.J Dionne acknowledges this in his article Is the Culture War the Wrong War? when he discusses the percentages of pro-life versus pro-choice citizens. He even references how within these general differences opinion are even more differences in opinions. There are those who feel strongly about the matter and those who just barely lean to one side. In the Pew Forum, Hunter discusses these surveys arguing that they ignore much of America's population by using generalizations. Hunter states that "surveys are good, but they don't tell the whole story of culture." All of America can't be represented in one single statistic. In order to get a true representation of division Hunter argues, scientists would need to use what's called "methodological individualism" to reach every American on an individual level.  Wolfe counters this by arguing that "structuralism" categorizes these individual feelings and negates this individual opinion. I don't think the individual opinion should be negated. I think it's necessary to acknowledge the difference in extremes in opinion rather than just opinion as a whole.



http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/01/why-the-culture-war-is-the-wrong-war/304502/?single_page=true

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-crawford/winning-the-culture-war_b_2536151.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stuart-muszynski/culture-wars-values_b_1271751.html