Tag: Polarization

Class Warfare, An American Tradition

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We are no more partisan today than we were at the nation’s founding.

by Bruce S. Thornton // Defining Ideas 

Are we more “polarized” and “partisan” than we were in the past? Political commentators think so. In a recentAtlantic profile, conservative pollster Frank Luntz attributed his cynicism about American politics to the unprecedented polarization of the American people he has seen in his recent work with focus groups. They are “contentious and argumentative,” don’t “listen to each other as they once had,” and are not “interested in hearing other points of view.” The fault lies in Washington, where the people are “picking up their leads.” Continue reading “Class Warfare, An American Tradition” →

Learning through Pain

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by Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media 

What will history make so far of our five-year voyage with Barack Obama? What will it make of hope

LarimdaMe via Flickr
LarimdaMe via Flickr

and change — other than a sort of hysteria of 2008 that was a political version of the Pet Rock or the Cabbage Patch Doll derangement? Did we really experience faux-Greek columns and Latin mottoes (vero possumus) as Obama props to usher in the new order of the ages?

What exactly made David Brooks focus on trouser creases, or Chris Matthews on involuntary leg tickles? How could any serious person believe a candidate who promised to change the very terrain of the planet? Why would sober critics declare a near rookie senator “a god”?

Only as America slowly sobers up from five years of slumber can we begin to fathom Obama’s likely legacy — which is mostly wisdom acquired only from pain. Continue reading “Learning through Pain” →

The Way of the Community Organizer

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by Victor Davis Hanson

NRO’s The Corner

As the campaign heats up, and the self-imposed restrictions of 2008 disappear, we will likely hear more about the once proud associations and friendships of Barack Obama that were all Trotskyized by the media ministries of truth during the unhinged summer of 2008. Continue reading “The Way of the Community Organizer” →

Race–on the Brain

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by Victor Davis Hanson

NRO’s The Corner

Someone named Elspeth Reeve, in an Atlantic posting, is suggesting that the Derbyshire essay was no different from other commentary on National Reviewon the Trayvon Martin case, citing my observations, along with those of others at NR, as proof: Continue reading “Race–on the Brain” →

The Strange Case of Trayvon Martin

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by Victor Davis Hanson

NRO’s The Corner

Racial-Relations Regression

The Trayvon Martin tragedy, by the time the entire process is played out, will reflect poorly on lots of people and groups, who in mob-like fashion have weighed in before all the facts in the case are fully aired. Continue reading “The Strange Case of Trayvon Martin” →

Spare Us the Sermons, Mr. President

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by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

During the recent debt crisis, President Obama talked about the need for bipartisan compromise and, as in the past, urged civility. Continue reading “Spare Us the Sermons, Mr. President” →

Obama’s Mandela Moment

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by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Anatomy of an Obama Moment

In a news-obsessed culture, sometimes the media simply ignores profound stories, such as the cause of the almost inexplicable — and quite brilliantly constructed — recovery of Obama’s poll ratings. Continue reading “Obama’s Mandela Moment” →