America moving to the left
Paul Waldman in the Baltimore Sun has an excellent analysis of what's happening now:
"When Democrats win, we're told it was a matter of circumstance or an unusually skillful candidate. When Republicans win, we're told it was because Americans are becoming more conservative. Why? Because many members of the media have internalized the attacks conservatives have made on them for decades and come to adopt the complimentary conservative picture of what America is all about."
But his take on this election is actually correct:
"The fact is that nearly all the movement in American public opinion in recent decades has been in one direction: to the left. This evolution is precisely why conservatives have grown so angry about the "culture wars" - because they're losing." [more]
Comments
The Waldman article is characteristically self-pleasing and recounts only a partial truth. What happened in the recent election was a three-part dynamic:
1) The Democrats defeated a large cohort of moderate to liberal incumbent Republicans. The net result of this was that the Republican Party in the Congress, internally, has become more conservative than it was before the election.
2) The Democrats who replaced Republicans were successful in ousting incumbent Republicans in traditionally Republican-voting districts because the Democrats were smart enough to recruit conservative Democrats to run against them. The net result of this was that the Democratic Party in the Congress, internally, has become more conservative than it was before the election.
3) The shift in control of the Congress from the Democrats to the Republicans means that the Congress, as a whole, has become more liberal than it was before the election.
All three of these factors are outcomes of the election. Left-leaning liberals like to only mention point 3), ignoring the interesting dynamics produced by points 1) & 2).
So to sum it up: Both parties have become more conservative, but the Congress as a whole is more liberal. That’s the whole truth of the matter.
lwd