Bridging the American Divide (Part II)

How We Got Here This Time

Back in the Late 1970s, the generally liberal thrust of government from FDR through LBJ to Jimmy Carter had essentially kept us on the move—as if looking for the new “cave” that would solve society’s ills—for too long. After the tumult of the Sixties, the majority of Americans were ready to settle down in one spot, in one “cave.” Ready to get the spending and the taxing under control. Ready to let the constant changes to our morality or immorality settle down.

Thus, Ronald Reagan Was Elected President, and the Nation began its twenty-eight-year tilt to the Right.

Now, Though, We Seem to Have Reached the Limits of the Conservative view. The overall argument of small government and lower taxes has somehow, inexplicably, led us to where we are. Essentially, we sit in a cave that is too small for us. The roof is caving in. It is time for us to move in a different direction. Find a new “cave.”

Back in the 1980s, Liberals insisted that the things that we’d been trying just hadn’t been given enough of a chance, and that we had more things to try.

“We Stop Here,” said Conservatives under Ronald Reagan. That old “Liberal agenda” didn't matter any more. The majority of the nation were fed up. Ronald Reagan cut programs and cut taxes. Then he outspent the Soviet Union to get those "wolves" from the door.

It All Seemed to Work Well-Enough for a While (though there were always many people unhappy—and there always will be). But then, over the past eight years, so many things went wrong. Enron, and September 11, and Katrina, and Iraq, and Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, and more hurricanes, and the price of oil skyrocketing, and the collapse of the housing market, and—

“We Have to Move Now.” Suddenly the weight of the Conservative/Liberal argument seems to have switched to the other side of the scales. (Sure, there are plenty of people who still prefer the arguments of lowering taxes and cutting regulations—and there always will be). But the recent rescues, from Iraq and Katrina, all the way through to the current bailouts, make the arguments for lowering taxes look unrealistic.

STILL AHEAD: The Tide Will Turn Yet Again and How We Can Actually Work Together