How I would describe the division within DU

[Igel]

16. I don't see a general conservative drift.

I see slight bobbings up and down on a trendline that has been pretty significantly to the left over the last 50 years. Sometimes a bit more conservative, followed by a larger shift to a bit more liberal.

Put the current legal and social framework into the 1990s, and there'd be a reasonable outcry.

Put it in the '80s, it would be greater.

Put it in the '70s, and it would be even greater.


What's happened is that tolerance and good will have decreased, so the differences that are there are even more stark. Society's become a bit polarized, but mostly we see the extremes. And we assume that what we see and know is all there is. Those that have been on the losing end of the changes--usually well right of center--are those talking the loudest sometimes. And they attract the attention when the trend line bobs a bit too liberal a bit too fast; they're the face of the "bob" to a bit more conservative.

"Penguins" want to think they're in the majority, for the most part. Sometimes that's the group they've surrounded themselves with and they can't see beyond it. They want to see things to fight against, they want to see victories. Or they see themselves surrounded by knuckle-draggers. Sometimes that leads them to highly undemocratic (even if still Democratic) ends. Research shows they tend to be more sure about why people do things than the people themselves--they especially know far more about why (R)s do things than most (R)s are willing to say about other (R)s. Like I said, decreased good will.

I don't know that I'm a "woodchuck" (although I do like hard cider). But during the course of a day I'm around people that are far left to far right and everything in between. The far left are a minority. The far right most people look at with a bit of pity or disgust. Most are in the middle. They're content enough, and when you have "enough" you don't want large shifts. Most change is for the worse.

True believers, right and left, have a difficult time with this. My mother was one. I kept hearing her say, "Change is good." When Reagan won and she was really, really upset, I really, really just wanted her to stop ranting. When I could finally edge a word in sidewise, I just said, "Ma, this is change. And like you always say, Change is good." Most change is bad or neutral. It's like genetic mutations. Thing is, like mutations, most are weeded out quickly and forgotten.