The Political Center Has Drifted Far to the Right in One Generation

Listen to George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan Advocate for Free Education for Undocumented Workers in 1980

Construction workers try to fix a fallen section of the wall that blew over in strong winds in Colexo, California January 2020.

The Toxic Political Environment Seems Normal Because We Have Forgotten Our Own History

The 2023 political climate is toxic. Political discourse has retreated into competing echo chambers where unchallenged discourse merely amplifies our own views. As discussed in an insightful academic study, not only do we fail to respect each other’s opinions we “fear the other side poses an existential threat to their very way of lives and livelihoods.”

Indeed, a recent Penn State study makes clear that we are not only reflexively opposed to each other, we cannot even imagine reasonable disagreement, as we find the other’s opinion “baffling.” Although perhaps at the GOP extreme, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene argued on 60 Minutes that Democrats were, as a group, “pedophiles.”

It Wasn’t This Way Forty Years Ago

Take a few minutes and watch this clip from a 1980 GOP Primary debate …