Text 202, 98 rader
Skriven 2004-07-30 14:13:12 av Alan Hess
Ärende: Chapman - US not polarized
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Is he right or wrong in this opinion?
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-op.chapman.30jul30,1,1007358.stor
y?coll=bal-pe-opinion
Debunking the modern myth of America as polarized nation


By Steve Chapman

July 30, 2004

CHICAGO - If Martians landed here and observed things for a while, they might
reach the conclusion that Americans are deeply polarized on the stark choices
they face: Coke vs. Pepsi, Big Macs vs. Whoppers, the Ford F-150 vs. the Chevy
Silverado. It would take an actual human being to explain that though a few
people have deep, passionate preferences, most of us don't perceive a huge
difference between the options and could be reasonably satisfied with either.

Watching the Democratic convention - or the Republican convention, when it
comes around - you could get the idea that on most issues, Americans stand on
either side of a vast gulf, finding nothing in common with the people across
the divide. Name your preference: Bill O'Reilly or Michael Moore? Tom DeLay or
Edward M. Kennedy? Christian or atheist? Cowboy boots or sandals? Red state or
blue state? On these choices, it looks as though the twain shall never meet.

The impression of a house divided is confirmed by the beliefs of the typical
Democratic convention delegate. According to a New York Times/CBS News poll,
delegates are far more critical of the Iraq war, far more worried about the
federal budget deficit and far more opposed to restrictions on abortion than
the average person.

Forty-four percent favor gay marriage, which only one in four Americans
endorses. Just 19 percent of the delegates favor the death penalty, compared
with 50 percent of Americans.

So is the Democratic Party out of step? Not any more than the Republican Party,
if polls at the 2000 GOP convention are any indication. Looking at delegates,
however, gives a misleading picture. Democratic voters in general are not
nearly as liberal as the activists in Boston.

The Times/CBS poll found that 39 percent of Democratic voters endorse capital
punishment. Fully 49 percent favor stricter limits on abortion. Only 36 percent
support same-sex marriage.

What you see on TV, however, are the most committed, ideological - and, to be
honest, sometimes the most mentally unbalanced - elements of the party. They no
more typify Democrats than the Sears Tower typifies office buildings.

The major party candidates have plenty of things to argue about, but on many
issues, they are not as far apart as you might assume. This year, both nominees
supported the Iraq war resolution, favored the Patriot Act and plan to cut the
deficit in half by 2009.

John Kerry criticizes President Bush's handling of the Iraq war, but his
remedies don't sound much different. When it comes to the issue Republicans
prefer to keep front and center, namely tax cuts, the Democratic challenger
promises to cut taxes for 98 percent of Americans.

Though Mr. Kerry supports abortion rights, he also asserts that "life begins at
conception." His health care plan is designed to expand the competitive system
of private health insurance we have today, not replace it with a universal
government-provided entitlement.

But supporters of Ralph Nader or the Libertarian Party are wrong when they say
there's not a dime's worth of difference between Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry. I'd
guess the difference amounts to at least 15 cents.

The reason the parties are pretty similar is that Americans are just not all
that divided on important matters - as documented in the new book Culture War?
The Myth of a Polarized America, by political scientists Morris P. Fiorina,
Samuel J. Abrams and Jeremy C. Pope. Partisans hype the differences between red
states and blue states, but the authors note that even in red (Republican)
states, a majority of residents express a favorable opinion of the Democratic
Party, while 50 percent of blue-state voters think well of Republicans.

"Across a range of other matters, blue and red state residents differ little,
if at all," they report. Looking at public opinion on a long list of issues,
from school vouchers to estate taxes to Medicare prescription drug coverage,
they say, "one wonders why anyone would bother separating respondents into red
and blue categories - the differences are insignificant."

So when Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama said in his keynote address, "We
worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents
poking around our libraries in the red states," and, "We coach Little League in
the blue states and have gay friends in the red states," he was not just
turning clever phrases. He was dramatizing a truth that is easy to forget
during a bitterly contested election campaign: We're not two nations, but one.

Steve Chapman is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, a Tribune Publishing
newspaper. His column appears Tuesdays and Fridays in The Sun.

Copyright + 2004, The Baltimore Sun

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