dagblog - Comments for "American Extremism Is The Product Of American Apathy"

What I meant by the middle is

moat — Sun, 24 Jan 2016 21:48:39 +0000

In reply to I'm not sure what you mean by

What I meant by the middle is that it doesn't necessarily comprise a less polarized version of the extremes. What strikes me about looking at the Pew Research Study (which I linked to in Hal's White Working Class Republican post) is that the 54% who are not solidly behind the parties want things that are presently contradictions in the present set of opposing platforms.

Something that also seems off to me in both the Girod and Pew articles is that "solidly liberal" is not a good description of "solidly Democratic" at the moment. I present the scrappy quality of the Sanders/Clinton contest as evidence #1.

So I think the problem Girod is pointing to in the primary function is key to understanding a larger dysfunction but I am struggling to find another way to talk about it than saying "moderates were excluded."

I'm not sure what you mean by

barefooted — Sat, 23 Jan 2016 03:26:23 +0000

In reply to Interesting article and

I'm not sure what you mean by the "middle", but the moderate/centrist opinion on both sides of the aisle (and in between) has arguably been self-excluded. Or maybe allowed itself to be? Whatever the long-term reason, the lack of moderation in the vocal electorate is indeed changing not only the political landscape, but democracy as a whole.

Interesting article and

moat — Sat, 23 Jan 2016 01:47:17 +0000

In reply to American Extremism Is The Product Of American Apathy

Interesting article and website.

I don't think the "middle" is the simply excluded element in the process the article describes but Girod does hit the mark describing how the sequence of the primaries feeds the message machine leading to extremely polarized politics.