Sam Rosenfeld

It provides an informative recounting of the people and process that transformed our two political parties into increasingly ideologically opposed interest groups. To make a long story short, well-intentioned political scientists, partisan idealists and cynical political leaders found a common cause in driving a pair of reluctant political parties into changing sides. When it was all over, only 1 of the 3 appears to have significantly regretted what they brought about. While the book does show more not make the case that the respective sides were fully symmetric in motivation or energy, it does identify the Republicans as having put more effort into the deliberate polarization and having moved ideologically farther.

While the word ‘culture’ is mentioned in the book (although perhaps most prominently in a final brief word that feels like a post-2016 election afterthought), the book treats America’s polarization as primarily a political phenomenon, and one influenced primarily by political activity. While this is a valid perspective, and a useful scope for a book like this, I’m personally convicted that much of America’s political divide is reflective of a greater cultural conflict, which to an increasing extent is being experienced globally. If the world is pairing off into two increasingly opposed camps (such as somewheres and nowheres), then it is inevitable that political organization will follow. The rapid and sudden changes in Republican Party priority under Trump suggest that traditional GOP conservatism may not be totally in synch with the party’s current constituency.

Ultimately, this is a systemic dynamic, one with positive feedback loops, such that change only encourages further response, and the response encourages further counter response. Perhaps once this process started, it took on a life of its own. show less