Trend and counter-trend
By the time of the Democratic convention that nominated George McGovern, the New Left had acquired an important foothold in the governing apparatus of the Democratic Party; this influence has only grown over time. The consequences of this are much in evidence today in Congress and the administration. In a way, the Tea Party Movement is a reaction to this (though it is also a reaction to the business-as-usual Republicans as well). On the one hand there is, in the Democratic Party, considerable support for a tops-down, command and control model of governance and the economy, and on the other hand there is, seemingly all of a sudden, this bottoms-up group that came from nowhere and just took off like some YouTube video that gets tens of millions of hits.
Like the education establishment, the Old Media have mostly been allied with and supportive of the leftward leaning trend. This has made it seem like the majority of the country is deep blue, when in fact the bluest areas of the nation are highly concentrated — and several are notably major media centers. Conservatives outnumber liberals 45-19 in America, though you’d never guess that from watching TV or reading the paper. When the history of this era is written, one of the fascinating aspects may be how the internet and the other New Media helped ordinary people to see for themselves that the worldview of those running the Old Media wasn’t so dominant after all.
February 9th, 2010 at 7:49 am
awesome post
February 9th, 2010 at 9:08 am
I have been a longtime reader and this is another usual great post. You just formulated within a couple of paragraphs a feeling I have had for sometime but never have been able to describe.
I can only speak for one man but I can vouch for the fact that had it not been for media consumption outlets that were available to me in the early part of the last decade I would still mostly likely be full fledged on that liberal high horse.
February 9th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Its questionable whether there are so few liberals because they tend to describe themselves as moderates. Moderates seens to be pro abortion, anti defense, big government, quotas, pro amnesty and higher taxes. So it is questionable how much of an edge conservatives enjoy.