More Conflictual than Consensual

Anytime politics are discussed about, there is an argument on who agrees or who disagrees with certain topics.  American political culture is definitely more conflictual than consensual. The division is between Red America and Blue America, also known as Democrats and Republicans.  There are many differences between the two. For example, the difference in the average household income, the difference in college degrees and high school diplomas, and ethnic diversity.  The blue states population of diversity is "60 percent is white, 15 percent is black, 12 percent is hispanic, and 11 percent is asian"(Brooks). For the red states, "95 percent of the population is white"(Brooks).  This major difference in diversity can and will cause conflict in voting. The more diverse the states are the more they will vote blue and of course the less diverse vote republican. In the voting maps you can't tell which states are diverse and which aren't, but you can tell which are republican and democrats.

For the election, states are colored  based on the vote for each president. The map shown every election is made to show which president won for each state.  The creators of the map chose to focus more on "Geographic accuracy over electoral importance"(Vox). These maps are hard to understand how the states really voted.  Especially to see the number of people that were white and voted for what party compared the ethnic population of the people that voted. Because their differences in diversity the government is conflicting.

    

Consensual or Conflictual?

American political culture is more conflictual than it use to be. In the 20th for the presidential election there were around 20 landslide elections depending on how you define it. That means that 4 out of every 5 elections were landslides in which one candidate completely crushed the other sometimes getting 500 electoral votes. In the 21st century the greatest difference in electoral votes was 192. In "Crossfire: The great divide - red vs. blue states (part1/3) they argue over the minimum wage. The minimum wage is an argument over Laissez-Faire. Laissez-Faire in English translates to let (people) do (as they choose) in policy it is a government where it interferes as little as it can letting things take their own course. It's usually associated with the a freer less regulated market lower taxes, and more industries in the private sector. They argue over the practicality of the minimum wage and if it encroaches on the rights of the business owner to much. the argument is if the government is supposed to be limited than the minimum wage is an overstepping of the governments authority. The minimum wage is a large topic in America showing one of its divides. At the end of the 2016 election Donald Trump won before this his side had been saying the election was rigged and unfair, at the end those apposing him started the Not My President, they protested his victory and stated they would never accept him as their leader. Neither sides would be content with the outcome unless they would be the victors. This goes against another one of the five ideas agreed upon in the American Culture, Populism. Populism is the concern for the ordinary people. On both sides neither cared about the ordinary peope they both only cared about winning. Another divide is along moral lines, in David Brooks  "One Nation, Slightly Divisible" He says that " America is divided between two moral systems". In religion regarding the 2000 election  59% of those who attended religious services weekly voted for bush 39% voted for Gore. 56% of those who don't attend religious services weekly voted for Gore and 39% voted for Bush

Why the the US is more conflictual than consensual

The United State is more in disagreement over daily political issues based on the two political parties and whom they side with. It is very hard for the two parties to come to consensus because no body listens to each other. The people no longer debate and just split themselves based on beliefs, economic issues, and personal morals. The divide of the people tends to have totally different lives and views of each other. "Red America tend to live on farms or small towns or small cities far away from the coast... people in Red America do with motors... In Red America churches are everywhere...they have QVC, the Pro Bowlers tour and hunting... Walmarts are massive" (Brooks). The Red is stereotyped as country and more traditional. They tend to want things not to change and be the same as it was in olden days, they want original government. But Blue America is tended to be smarter, less religious, in shape, live in big cities, and more successful. The Blue cares more about the people in the societies then the traditional reds. The Blue wants change to be brought upon for good of the community. A lot of the controversy over the two groups is the problem of disagreement and lack of communication over the problems. Both of them feel as if their voices aren't heard and that their voices doesn't matter. Instead of working together they are fighting each other to see who wins and whose ideas will work out in the long run. The two divides are more of a competition between each other than civil disagreement on ideology. This is why the U.S. is more conflictual than consensual.

American political culture is conflictual because many factions are disagreeing and fighting. The main conflict of the United States of America is that of the Republicans and Democrats. These two groups have huge differences as showcased in One Nation, Slightly Divisible by David Brooks. As stated in the text, Republicans are, “traditional, religious, self-disciplined, and patriotic”, while Democrats are, “modern, secular, self-expressive, and discomfited by blant displays of patriotism” ( Brooks 3). These two groups have two completely different opinions on how the country should be run. An example of this is how Democrats believe abortion and homosexuality should be legal, but Republicans view them as inhumane and morally wrong. Another example of these two parties having differing opinions is Democrats want a strong central government while Republicans desire more state power. It can be argued that these two sides are the modern day federalists and anti-federalists.

This ongoing conflict has resulted in nearly the same electoral map every election. This map is misleading because it shows which side won which states, but it disregards the number of electoral votes each state has. As observed by Vox, “So while this tells you that Romney won Montana, it doesn’t tell you how much that victory doesn’t matter.” The fact that America is a conflictual culture supports that the electoral college should be outlawed. Elections should go by popular vote because of how important the presidential candidate is for each party. A personal example is a Wolcott Republican who disagrees with the majority of the state but still wants their vote recognized in the election in order to see their political ideology displayed in the office. Also in the Crossfire, the Illinois governor wants Texas to raise the minimum wage like them, but Texas argues this isn’t needed because 95% of their jobs aren’t minimum wage. This further supports the enormity of the split between the left and the right. These specific examples prove America is a conflictual culture.

The Disunited States of America?

The United States of America was not created with the idea that everyone shares the same ideas and beliefs.  As we all know, James Madison, the father of the Constitution, intended the country to be based on a puralist democracy, a system in which groups organize to exert influence on political decision-making.  These groups were called factions, and these factions had different views or opinions on how the government ought to be conducted.  In fact, an example of factions are the Democrats and the Republicans.  These two political parties have deep divides in political ideology, and are always in constant conflict with one another.  This is to be as expected; these two parties are the most popular in the entire country.  Therefore, American political culture is conflictual, as the many differences in opinion between liberals and conservatives (Democrats and Republicans), and the split between the two among the American population signify this.  

                                                  

The people in either parties have their own set of values and beliefs.  Issues that are important to Democrats may not be important to people in the Republican party.  This is a key component in the article "One Nation, Slightly Divisible" by David Brooks.  Brooks touches upon the differences between "Red America", people who are conservatives and live in the southern United States, and "Blue America", people who are liberals and live the northeastern and western United States.  People who live in Red America for example, are usually living in rural areas where they provide for the themselves and there families.  Therefore, these people want a government that is less involved with their daily lives.  On the other hand, people who live in Blue America are generally liberals and are dependent on the government for their daily lives (in terms of transportation and amount paid).  Thus, these people want strong government to help them succeed in their urban lifestyle.  This is why in the video "Crossfire: The Great Divide 1/3", the two governors, one from Illinois (Democratic state), and one from Texas (Republican state) were arguing about minimum wage.  The Illinois governor believes that raising the minimum wage will create jobs, thus bolstering the economy, however the Texas governor believes that this will hurt businesses, and jobs will be lost.  This demonstrates the clear division in how the political issues are dealt with; there are always two sides to one problem.  Also, Democrats are pro-choice in terms of abortion while Republicans are pro-life.  This may have something to do that people in Red America are very religious, and have strong beliefs about to the right to life.     

This chart shows that much of America is divided between Democrats and Republicans.  Therefore, the this nearly split division shows that the United States is hardly ever in agreement concerning a topic.

A Country Divided: Red vs. Blue

Political culture can be defined as a common set of standards or beliefs a country has, but this political culture does not always agree.  Political culture can be defined as either conflictual or consensual.  Consensual political culture generally agrees on most decisions and while there are still arguments there is support from all groups with major decisions.  However, conflictual political culture has vast differences between groups and they typically disagree on decisions.  There is a lot of arguments in conflictual political culture.  Over time America's political culture has become more and more conflictual.  The differences between each party have only grown over time which has caused some problems in things such as electing politicians, opinions of people in different groups, and decisions on political issues.

In America, people pride themselves on the freedom to vote and be involved in the government.  Everyone has a right to their own opinion, but at what cost?  The nation is divided by colors- red vs blue states.  Based on the color of a state determines who that state will generally vote for.  Blue states are democratic and red states are republican, however, some states are swing states, meaning they don't have a definite color.  This has caused some big issues when it is time to vote for a president or a senator.  During the 2016 presidential race, it was Hilary vs Trump.  Looking at the image above, it is evident that the map is a majority red.  President Trump ended up winning the race with a final score of 306 to 232.  But what about all the blue states that now have a Republican president?  Trump has the highest disapproval rating of any president in his second year as president.  There have been major protests and difficulties as a result.  Republicans are all very happy that they have a Republican president but some Democrats are outraged.  There is a huge rift between parties which can only grow with time.  

The opinions people have on red and blue states is also detrimental to the possibility of compromise and agreement between parties.  No one from either color is interested in learning about the other and instead, chooses to believe stereotypes to fuel their differences.  In the article, One Nation, Slightly Divisible, by David Brooks, he draws attention to the differences in beliefs from a red to a blue state.  The two locations he talks about are Montgomery County, which is democratic and Franklin County, which is republican.  "In Montgomery County 60 percent of the population is white, 15 percent is black, 12 percent is Hispanic, and 11 percent is Asian.  In Franklin County 95 percent of the population is white."  Blue staters use this information to support their idea that red states are "Racist and homophobic."  Democrats value equality more than a Republican and use diversity statistics to show the difference between the two groups.  If blue states are more diverse then they have to be more accepting, don't they?  Each group has their own set of beliefs and they aren't willing to look past them.  They use stereotypes to justify their thinking about the other group which only farther separates America as a country.

America was founded on the idea that factions will be created and in order for the government to function, different factions must compromise.  But the differences between factions are so huge that sometimes compromise isn't an option.  In the video, Crossfire: The great divide- red vs. blue states (part 1/3), Pat Quinn, a Democratic governor in Illinois debates with Rick Perry, the Republican governor of Texas about raising the minimum wage.  Each governor has a different set of ideals and cannot come to an agreement.  Quinn claims that parents must be able to live off minimum wage and support a family, but Perry claims that will only harm small business owners.  There is really no room for compromise because each wants what is best for their state.  If this was a consensual government then at least a compromise would be attainable.  The country is unable to efficiently function because it cannot make decisions.  Both men strongly believe in their views and are not willing to change them, just like America's red and blue states.

Political culture in America is conflictual because of the varying beliefs from citizen to citizen.  Many disagreements have occurred and many more will arise.  I completely agree with Caiden and his argument that America would rather fight with itself than compromise.  The differences from party to party are too big for people to agree.  America challenges every decision that is made, thus a very conflictual nation.

A Slightly Divided Country

The US now is considered more divided then it would be united. The country is based on debating to make the country as good as it can possibly be but now our country is not one whole debating with people in the same group it is now the red vs the blue, the conservatives vs the liberals, and the republicans vs the democrats. This is shown in the article One Nation, Slightly Divisible written by David Brooks. Americas political culture as a whole is more conflictual then consensual. The conservatives in the article are show as more overweight, uneducated, farmers that live in the south and the liberals are shown as lean, highly educated, business workers that live more northern. The reason there could be such a divide in the 2 different beliefs of these people could be the differences in the ways they could have been raised. In the article the red is more self reliant and religious where the blue is more self nurturing and less religious. This could lead to different opinions on things that say the religion would not allow like abortion. The reason that having 2 huge factions like this in America could be biased views. In many cases people from each side will look at each other with a hatred right off the bat and may not truly be able to head the words that they are saying and consider that is some cases the other side could be right. Having these different views and stubbornness towards these views that we will never compromise but rather argue until you get the way you want with no in between. This divide between people would make it very hard to effectively govern a country as well. If the higher ups make a move one side does not support that is a large chunk of the population that is now against the governing body as a whole. On top of all of this there is the problem with the Red and Blue state maps as shown by the Vice News video about the topic. It shows how one the entire country is so widely split that making the wrong move will literally get have of the geographic country against you and two how those same maps could be misleading to the people. Looking at the map people may get angry that the certain candidate will be winning all over the country where in reality that area could how next to know electoral college votes. This could lead to one side hating the people and policies of the other state because they voted against their beliefs. This could create more biased turmoil in the nation leading to no decision making being made. This is why the US is is more conflictual then consensual.