Divided we stand
It’s not just that our nation is divided. Both parties are divided. The Democrats’ division is generational. The Republicans’ division is personal.
One party’s insurgency comes from the left; the other, from the right. One is young vs. old; the other, inside vs. outside. Both come from a deep well of fear and loathing about the state of our Union.
Draw a line through Democrats at age 45. Voters over the line are 2 to 1 for Clinton. Voters under it are 2 to 1 for Sanders.
The over-45 crowd was born before 1970. They came of age when Bill Clinton ended the Reagan-Bush years. Clinton was young, hip and part of their generational experience: Vietnam, Watergate, 60s-70s rock and a Saturday Night Live attitude. They enjoyed the Clinton economic boom.
The under-45s see the Clintons as the old days. These voters came of age in the world of 9/11 and the 2008 economic collapse. They borrowed big for college and entered the worst job market since the 1930s.
They see the Clintons as pillars of a political class that understands their lives about as well as Hillary and Bill understand Snapchat, Instagram and texting. They don’t see in Hillary the authenticity they value.
Sanders has gathered their collective energy just as John Kennedy, George McGovern (unfortunately) and Gary Hart and Howard Dean (both briefly) captured younger generations before. Sanders has done it with a full-throated assault on a political and economic system that under-45 Democrats see as stacked against them and clueless about them.
The Republican division isn’t by age. It grows out of the fear and anger of voters who see the world threatened by fanatical terrorists abroad and a rigged insider system at home. Their villains are Washington politicians, especially Washington Republican politicians.
The Democrats’ fight seems to be 80-20 ideological to personal. The Republicans’ fight seems 90-10 personal to ideological. Which may explain Trump and Cruz, who specialize in personal attacks.
Some pundits say that, extremists aside, there’s a broad middle ground among Americans. If so, what unites them is that they’re mad as hell at somebody.
Divided we stand
It’s not just that our nation is divided. Both parties are divided. The Democrats’ division is generational. The Republicans’ division is personal.
One party’s insurgency comes from the left; the other, from the right. One is young vs. old; the other, inside vs. outside. Both come from a deep well of fear and loathing about the state of our Union.
Draw a line through Democrats at age 45. Voters over the line are 2 to 1 for Clinton. Voters under it are 2 to 1 for Sanders.
The over-45 crowd was born before 1970. They came of age when Bill Clinton ended the Reagan-Bush years. Clinton was young, hip and part of their generational experience: Vietnam, Watergate, 60s-70s rock and a Saturday Night Live attitude. They enjoyed the Clinton economic boom.
The under-45s see the Clintons as the old days. These voters came of age in the world of 9/11 and the 2008 economic collapse. They borrowed big for college and entered the worst job market since the 1930s.
They see the Clintons as pillars of a political class that understands their lives about as well as Hillary and Bill understand Snapchat, Instagram and texting. They don’t see in Hillary the authenticity they value.
Sanders has gathered their collective energy just as John Kennedy, George McGovern (unfortunately) and Gary Hart and Howard Dean (both briefly) captured younger generations before. Sanders has done it with a full-throated assault on a political and economic system that under-45 Democrats see as stacked against them and clueless about them.
The Republican division isn’t by age. It grows out of the fear and anger of voters who see the world threatened by fanatical terrorists abroad and a rigged insider system at home. Their villains are Washington politicians, especially Washington Republican politicians.
The Democrats’ fight seems to be 80-20 ideological to personal. The Republicans’ fight seems 90-10 personal to ideological. Which may explain Trump and Cruz, who specialize in personal attacks.
Some pundits say that, extremists aside, there’s a broad middle ground among Americans. If so, what unites them is that they’re mad as hell at somebody.