There is a myth that Democrats and Republicans have allowed themselves to believe. Here is how they figure it. Since 1992 at any given time between 17% and 23% of Americans said they were Liberals. Between 34% and 43% said they were moderate. Between 36% and 38% said they were conservative.
The charlatans looking at those numbers figured that the number of moderate citizens plus the number of conservative citizens are greater than the number of moderate citizens plus liberal citizens. As such they declared America a center Right country. In other words, a country leaning conservative.
This construct was necessary to secure the roots of polarization. A huge tree of dysfunction could then be spliced onto those roots.
But I digress. One must remember that Americans are the ones who personally decide what liberal, moderate, or conservative mean. The corporate media over the last few decades have been successfully coerced into demonizing the the liberal label. As such, many moderates that would otherwise say they were liberal simply do not.
One should remember that liberal, moderate, and conservative in the past had little to do with Parties. There has always been liberal Democrats, conservative Democrats, and moderate Democrats. There has always been liberal Republicans, conservative Republicans, and moderate Republicans.
One must remember that liberal values got women the right to vote. Liberal values ended slavery. Liberal values ensured a livable 40 hour work week. Liberal values gave us a minimum wage. Liberal values gave Americans a voice over the American Plutocracy, the American corporatacracy.
One must remember that the 1964 Civil Rights Act was one of the greatest liberal achievements. It required the support of Republicans. While more Democrats voted for the bill than Republicans, a larger percentage of Republicans voted for the act. This of course is because in 1964 there were many more Democrats in both chambers of Congress.
That could not stand. It is too difficult for a Plutocracy, a corporatocracy to maintain control of a more educated population that has the ability of nuance. It is easier to have a fight between Parties. It is easier to have a fight between good and evil. It became necessary to purge.
The Democrats that voted against the 1964 Civil Rights act were mostly from the South. President Johnson knew that doing the right thing would have cost him and his Party, the South for at least a generation. President Nixon’s use of the Southern Strategy to take advantage of the increased polarization meant a Republican Party that had its center of gravity in the South. Many of those Southern Republicans switched Parties to become Southern Democrats.
Then came the Moral Majority. Of course it really was simply a vocal and loud minority that fused values to the Republicans Party that had little to do with real human values. They simply became the coercion arm of the Plutocracy on the Republican side. While the Blue Dog Democrats provided the cover on the pseudo left.
The problem has always been that America post World War II was never a conservative country. It was and is a big government liberal country. No one loves the bigness of the government more than the Plutocracy. Do not be fooled into the small government tenet the Right always speaks about.
Why is it that the Plutocracy wants big government? It is rather simple. Big government extracts. It is one central entity from which the Plutocracy through the control of policy can spend our tax dollars to enrich themselves.
The propensity for war is a classic example. As our wars are winding down those watching the coffers of many corporations are concerned. The Plutocracy does not want to spend its resources investing in Americans, in human capital. They want a hand out. How can they get that handout? Create another war. The rather dumb ISIS / ISIL terrorists fell into the American Plutocracy’s trap.
ISIS / ISIL is no match for the weakest of the NATO countries, yet through the media they have become the incarnation of a fused David and Goliath. In becoming Mr. David Goliath, the American Plutocracy is ready to extract our tax dollars to build more bombs.
Why not invest those dollars rebuilding America instead of building the coffers of corporations that destroy other countries? Note that these wars are equipped with American arms on all sides purchased from American corporations with many of them paid for by American tax payers.
While the Left and the Right fight about social issues and small government versus big government, the Plutocracy simply grow the parts of government that they need to increase their wealth as they pilfer us all. All Americans want is government that works. All we get is big government transferring our wealth to a distinct few in the American Plutocracy.