August 27, 2010
The Trends in American Politics
Sometimes it is useful to step back from the daily clashes of conservatives and liberals and try to better understand the forces that have shaped America. We are currently in a moment of intense partisan combat, with Democrats having pushed through major liberal reforms they have wanted for decades, and Republicans fighting hard to recapture the Congress in a mid-term landslide in less than 90 days.
The Republicans are making the case that Obama is an extreme left-winger who is destroying capitalism and is running up a massive deficit. They argue that America was built on conservative principles and that liberalism is the road to ruin. But if we look at America since 1900, we see that power was held by liberals and conservatives at different times, and American success is the end result of that partnership. In fact, much of what we take for granted as part of America, was fashioned by the liberals.
Liberals were dominant from 1900 to 1920. It was that era that created the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Reserve System, and the national income tax. Women got the vote, child labor was banned, and Teddy Roosevelt made a name breaking up oligopolies such as Standard Oil, and began modern environmentalism with his creation of the national park system. Woodrow Wilson pursued liberal internationalism in foreign policy, which took him into World War One and also led to the creation of the League of Nations, the failed predecessor of the UN.
From 1920 to 1932 the US moved into the conservative camp. This was the era of business and a limited foreign policy. It came to an end with the Great Depression and the advent of Franklin Roosevelt.
From 1933 to 1972 the US government was dominated by liberals. This was the era that created modern America. In the 1930’s there was Social Security and the SEC and the National Labor Relations Board. In the 1940’s liberal internationalism led the US into World War Two, and created the postwar institutions like the UN, IMF, World Bank, and NATO. President Truman integrated the military despite opposition. Although the 1950’s saw a Republican, Dwight Eisenhower, in the White House, he fully legitimized the New Deal, and passed the first timid Civil Rights Act, while the Supreme Court handed down the landmark Brown decision. In the 1960’s there were huge changes with Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, Medicare and Medicaid, federal funding of education, and affirmative action. The Supreme Court banned school prayer, gave formal rights to those arrested, and legalized abortion. Nixon’s first term was actually very liberal from a domestic policy standpoint, he even created the Environmental Protection Agency.
From 1973 to 2008 America turned conservative. Economics was dominated by downward pressure on tax rates, military spending ramped up, first under Carter and Reagan during the Cold War and then again under George Bush after 9/11. This was also an era of deregulation, starting with trucking and airlines under Carter and going much further under Reagan. Clinton rolled back welfare significantly, and the Vietnam Syndrome in foreign policy was gradually overcome with easy American interventions in Grenada, Panama, and the First Gulf War. This ended badly after 9/11 when Bush overreached in Iraq and mired the nation in a pointless and expensive conflict. During this long conservative era, the only liberal reforms occurred under the Bushes, the Americans with Disability Act under Bush the elder, and the Medicare drug benefit under Bush the younger.
Since 2009, we may have entered another liberal era. Obama won the biggest popular vote victory for a Democrat since 1964, and he is clearly very liberal in his instincts. The Democrats were able to get universal healthcare and a major financial sector reform passed. The Republicans have not won a majority of the popular vote for President since 1988, except for a very slight win in 2004. It is too early to tell whether the nation has moved left, or whether this was a short-term shift. Demographics certainly tilt in the Democrats favor, but intensity is with the conservatives. The economy dominates all else for now, and this may cost Obama heavily in 2010, but the real question is whether he wins easily in 2012, or we see another return of Republican control.
