How conservatives and liberals see the world: The righteous mind

[GAVol]

In the south, I think a lot of what has happened is people just got honest with their party affiliations. For the past 30 years, a lot of "southern Democrats" we're D's on a local level because they had to be, but then they'd pull the curtain and vote R nationally. Georgia is solidly conservative, but it took until 2000 to elect the first Republican Governor since Reconstruction.

 

[OrangeEmpire]

In the south, I think a lot of what has happened is people just got honest with their party affiliations. For the past 30 years, a lot of "southern Democrats" we're D's on a local level because they had to be, but then they'd pull the curtain and vote R nationally. Georgia is solidly conservative, but it took until 2000 to elect the first Republican Governor since Reconstruction.

That frackin Sherman!

 

[milohimself]

In the south, I think a lot of what has happened is people just got honest with their party affiliations. For the past 30 years, a lot of "southern Democrats" we're D's on a local level because they had to be, but then they'd pull the curtain and vote R nationally. Georgia is solidly conservative, but it took until 2000 to elect the first Republican Governor since Reconstruction.

What was your take on the bit about the civil rights bill?

 

[volinbham]

What was your take on the bit about the civil rights bill?

I thought it was overdone - Moyers and Haidt made it sound as if Republicans were against it and had to be cajoled into supporting it. There was resistance and support on both sides - even in the South. Maybe not their intent but it came across as the South was only D because they hated Lincoln and they all switched to R because they were against civil rights legislation.

Overall, I agree with the basic findings of the research but I always get wary when things are boiled down into "x" pivotal points - Civil rights bill, baby boomers and (I'm having a Perry moment on the third). No need to package it so neatly but I imagine it is done for selling the message rather than definitive empirical proof that these are the three root causes of a change in tone.

 

[milohimself]

Why wouldn't there have been greater resistance in the south though? I thought there were aspects of it that extended only to southern states.

I didn't take it as them saying republicans were against it, but rather they were affected by a democratic administration and went republican as a backlash.

 

[GAVol]

Why wouldn't there have been greater resistance in the south though? I thought there were aspects of it that extended only to southern states.

I didn't take it as them saying republicans were against it, but rather they were affected by a democratic administration and went republican as a backlash.

Not really what happened. The Democrats controlled the south for a solid 20 years after the Civil Rights Act.

 

[milohimself]

Not really what happened. The Democrats controlled the south for a solid 20 years after the Civil Rights Act.

Ah.

 

[volinbham]

Why wouldn't there have been greater resistance in the south though? I thought there were aspects of it that extended only to southern states.

Not saying there wasn't resistance - felt the presentation suggested it was more uniform than it was

I didn't take it as them saying republicans were against it, but rather they were affected by a democratic administration and went republican as a backlash.

Not sure - the analogy was the South was D because of Lincoln (no other reason was offered). Somehow, CR made resulted in it all being R.

What's missing from the larger - CRB turned the South R argument for polarization is that the South has experienced tremendous growth since then. Much of that growth has been from the Northeast and Midwest. It's not just Rs moving to the South. Until this last year, Alabama had a D state legislature and pretty much always had.

I just found that as one of the 3 fundamental reasons for more righteousness as the least logical.

 

[volinbham]

Not really what happened. The Democrats controlled the south for a solid 20 years after the Civil Rights Act.

Yep. Add to that, some former D's switched to R's but that wouldn't fit the premise since if they compromised as D's why would they not compromise as R's (Richard Shelby as one example).

I think part of the more recent shift at the state level has more to do with a shift in the platforms of Ds and Rs. A combination of them moving away from the party and the party moving away from them.

Finally, I would suggest that the War on Poverty and Great Society may have had more to do with the polarization than the CRB. These get more at the competing notions of fairness that he used as an example.