Is there life after bush?

Ellen Sander has an uplifting post that makes good reading for those who need some serious uplifting (like me). What a week.

The Discussion: 4 Comments

Uplifting? have you tried a wonderbra

November 9, 2004 @ 2:40 am | Comment

You should take comfort from the fact that rather than red or blue, most of America is fairly cloudy purple.

Someone directed me towards some of the recent academic work, and it seems that political scientists don’t, for the most part, think that the values of the American electorate are very polarised. Morris Fiorina’s book Culture Wars looks at state and individual voter survey data and finds that there are no very strong polarisations, except in approval of homosexuality and gay marriage, where support in red states v blue states comes out about 35% in favour compared with 45%. These values surveys show only slow movement since 1968.

The interesting point about the election is that the US parties, being mostly nothing but collections of various interest groups, seem to becoming more extreme as time goes on. Like Greek tragedy, their essential nature will push them towards self-destruction. For the Dems, I’d expect that they want to have clear blue water between them and their rivals and the activists – the Sierra Club, the AFL-CIO, NOW and so on will push their true believers forward as candidates. So, expect Hillary Clinton to be nominated in 2008.

Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton? History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.

November 9, 2004 @ 9:22 am | Comment

I really don’t see Clinton as a viable choice, though I’m sure she’ll try. I saw ther purple maps, and they’re a little less depressing than the red/blue versions. There’s hope, but the key to so much is the court appointments, and that’s where most of my worries lie.

November 9, 2004 @ 9:29 am | Comment

Well, that’s what Federalism is all about. There’s zero chance of an FMA being enacted, opinion isn’t strongly against gay marriage. That’s the advantage of living in a country spanning several time zones.

November 9, 2004 @ 3:26 pm | Comment

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