The Myth Of A Polarized America Chapter 1 Summary

A Not So 50:50 Nation

Culture Wars? The Myth of a Polarized America: Book Review

The book Culture Wars? The Myth of a Polarized America by Morris P. Fiorina, Samuel J. Abrams, and Jeremy C. Pope is a persuasive text regarding America and its division on political topics.

In chapter one, Fiorina begins with a powerful quote from Pat Buchanan’s 1992 speech at the Republican National Convention, “There is a religious war…a cultural war as critical to the…nation…as the cold war…for this war is for the soul of America” (Fiorina et al. 1). Using several other quotes, he illustrates the belief that the nation is torn between personal morals and extreme conservative notions. He then states his belief that these sentiments are complete nonsense,

Furthermore, he introduces the idea that popular polarization is different from partisan polarization and that sorting has occurred within the parties. Meaning that “those who affiliate with a party… are more likely to affiliate with the ideologically ‘correct’ party than they were [before]” (Fiorina et al. 61). To illustrate the concept of polarization he uses a figure with marble filled urns. These urns depict red blue and gray marbles with r for republican d for democrat and i for independent. When polarization, all gray independent marbles disappear becoming either red or blue. In the example of sorting the first urn has blue d and r marbles, gray i marbles and red d and r marbles. When sorting occurs, r marbles are all red and the d marbles are all blue and the gray i marbles remain in the middle. The proportions remain essentially the same, however appearing more polarized. This is what the author believes has occurred in America, especially in the southern states and now individuals disregard where they live and choose based on who they are. He continues with the idea that Americans have both traditional and modern values. Polarization can be subjective, however American polarization around religious and moral issues is