America has often been a divided nation. Battles at our founding were often settled at 50 paces.The western ethos that is part of half of America fueled many of those divisions. Brother fought against brother
in the civil war. The industrial revolution gave us riots, and death and violence. The cold war and fear of communism gave rise to whole careers and lives ruined just by accusation. The ’60s didn’t just produce great music but led to the death of students on the safety of a college campus.
But, to use the often tired cliche of Wall Street, this time it’s different. Or at least so it seems. The divide today, fueled by social media, by 24/7 news cycles and the decline of faith in our basic institutions and fear of hyper-rapid and deep fundamental change has produced a kind of tribalism that undermines rather than reinforces all the central ideas of democracy and republican government.
Darrell M. West vice president and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution looks at all of this in Divided Politics, Divided Nation: Hyperconflict in the Trump Era.
My conversation with Darrell West:
Should Donald Trump Make Us Rethink the Reagan Legacy For the Worse?
Science and Politics are Now Linked
The Curse of the US/Britain Special Relationship
A Conversation with Brian Stelter
A Spouse Also Runs: A Conversation with Chasten Buttigieg
Remember When Diplomacy and the Arts Once Mattered?
McCarthy to Cohn to Trump: A conversation with Larry Tye
Gail Sheehy: In Memoriam
Only The Best People: Why The Best and The Brightest Sometimes Aren't
Why Are Millennials Feeling Left Behind?
Nixon and The Dawn of the White Working-Class Revolution
Pete Hamill in His Own Words...and Voice
Marilyn
Why Are White Evangelicals Primed For Trump’s Fear-Mongering?
Can Local Journalism Rewire Democracy?
Do We Have The Strength and Wisdom to BEGIN AGAIN?
The High Cost of Free Speech
Christopher Dickey: A Remembrance
The Unexpected Role of Feminism in Mass Incarceration
Without Newt there is no Trump: How we Got Here.
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