Two Cheers for Polarization
By Chris Bullivant
October 2021
The insurrection of January 6, 2021 was eye-poppingly shocking. Yet when President Biden described the events that surrounded it as “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War” one can’t help but wonder: was it? When many fear polarization has pushed the viability of the American project to its breaking point, perhaps we can take some solace in historic comparison. The long view suggests that diverse, disagreeing viewpoints are at the heart of the American project. Far from being cause for alarm, polarization is what makes America tick.
The United States was founded amongst heated squabbling and bitter conflict. At first, between those who did and those who did not want independence from Britain. Then, once emancipated, between dissenting views over whether the individual states or the federal government should have the upper hand in the balance of power.
Even the breeziest walk through the highlight reel of American history shows that there is nothing new to polarization. To take just one example, feelings on both sides of the Prohibition question were stark, to say the least. The resentment between different socio-economic cohorts during the Great Depression make today’s politics of envy look pale by comparison.
Moves to stem racism and xenophobia are always welcome. Yet how much does the alarm over #StopAsianHate compare to the internal suspicion of Japanese -- let alone German or Italian -- American citizens during the Second World War?
Is the current appetite for conspiracy theories any more stark than that endured during the McCarthy era, or the assassination of John F. Kennedy? Is trust in our institutions significantly lower today than when President Nixon was impeached? Is the street violence witnessed over the last years any more distressing than the murder of Martin Luther King Jr, and the subsequent race riots of 1968?
Are diametrically opposed views that today divide neighborhoods, churches, and families any more intense than the rifts caused by Woodstock, the sexual revolution, and the emergence of rock and roll?
The march on the Capitol in January 2021 that left five people dead was serious. No other terrorist group or political protest has ever punctured the Capitol with the aim of halting the process of forming a democratically elected government. Unusually the activity appears to have been connected to the active encouragement of a sitting President.
Yet as an expression of polarization, the assault on the Capitol was far less epic and deadly than the Civil War which established two Presidents, two Cabinets, two armies meting out their vision of the country.
The numbers involved in January’s insurrection hardly compare to other dramatic events. The groundswell of popular revolt in anti-war protests throughout the 1970s challenged American military power in the world - and the government that wielded it – in a fraught geo-political context.
The January assault was ephemeral and shoddy in comparison to the strength of the Occupy movement, which established itself in over 70 American cities for months in the 2010s. Other events have seen Presidents left for dead, elected representatives permanently maimed, citizens setting themselves on fire, or in the Kent State massacre, shot on campus. The insurrection at the Capitol was grim but perhaps not the worst attack on American democracy in 156 years.
Some perspective is helpful, because research suggests that the US is not as polarized as people perceive. Rather, More in Common found that an “‘exhausted majority’ feel unrepresented and left out by the intensifying conflict and tribalism of the loudest voices in politics and media platforms”. The majority of the country would rather unite around shared beliefs of “freedom, equality, and the pursuit of the American dream.”
What America is polarized about is how best to achieve that dream.
On one pole, there is an aggressive left wing vision. A demographically diverse America focussed on identities secured by government. This America challenges historic, conservative norms, and breaks with the economic realities of past decades. It is a $6 trillion vision that seeks to fashion an America unmoored from its past, with diverse identities united around one opinion. Here, politics invades all arenas of life.
On the other, there is a vision of America that is rooted in socially conservative beliefs, described by its adherents as ‘common sense’: liberties built upon a bedrock of family, faith, and small business, prospering under a near invisible politics, secured by a strong military defense.
The progressive vision fails to celebrate the diversity of opinion within America and the disagreement that has been central to the country’s evolution. Cancel culture, big tech censorship, and mainstream media bias may be seen as tools of liberation by adherents to this vision, but it is profoundly oppressive to the other side.
A conservative vision is based on social norms that were widely accepted until recently, but are now deeply unfashionable. To them, the progressive takeover is counter-cultural, alarming and alienating. To them, it is the left that is polarizing. Yet, held to blindly, the conservative vision can fail to accommodate all human experience.
Both poles, of course, alienate others who feel an affinity to neither camp. It is for this reason that disagreement is here to stay.
Polarization has been central to the American story. It is not going to go away anytime soon.
