The American Political Pattern: Stability and Change, 1932-2016 by Byron E Shafer

Author:Byron E Shafer [Shafer, Byron E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Democracy, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Political Science, Political Process, American Government, General
ISBN: 9780700623266
Google: 6a_9jwEACAAJ
Goodreads: 29890471
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 2016-01-15T06:22:34+00:00

The break points in a parallel overall development did differ between the two parties, with Democrats beginning to polarize earlier but Republicans more than catching up in the long run. The same overall development differed between institutions as well, with the Senate featuring a more gradual evolution than the House, where Republicans became less ideologically conformist during the Late New Deal before plunging back toward conformity from the 1970s onward. Yet with these nuances noted, the comprehensive story remained one of increasing and ultimately blanketing ideological polarization among congresspersons in both parties and both institutions across political eras.10 At the end of the day, then, it was this common evolution that was most striking about two formally autonomous parties in two formally autonomous institutions. Through the 1980s, it was still not unusual for each party to feature a third of its congressional delegation as ideologically dissident. Thereafter, the nonconforming bottom simply fell out.

Where had this augmented and striking ideological polarization—now including elected officials and not just party activists—come from? There are two main answers to this question, and they go a long way toward shaping the story of substantive conflict during the Era of Partisan Volatility. The first answer involves the penetration of one geographic region—the one-party South—by the national party system. Generically, when a substantial region is characterized by a single party, partisan divisions and their associated policy differences are perforce muted. All views are “represented”—that is, jumbled—within that one party. If external divisions then invade this region so as to integrate it with a national system, the region achieves implicit but inescapable polarization, at least on the substantive matters that differentiate national parties. In the process, composite national parties become additionally polarized as well.

Figure 4.5. Partisan Polarization among Public Officials

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