Rural divide: America’s cultural divide runs deep — while rural and urban Americans share some economic challenges, they frequently diverge on questions of culture and values. How our appetite for cheap food drove rural America to Trump: Consumer demand and government policy decimated rural America. America’s future is Texas: With right-wing zealots taking over the legislature even as the state’s demographics shift leftward, Texas has become the nation’s bellwether. California’s far north deplores “tyranny” of the urban majority. How liberal Portland became America’s most politically violent city — and it’s about to get worse, say protesters on both sides.
Alex Shephard interviews Lee Drutman on how culture became the main fault line in American politics. Elections are a competition between two stories of America. Trump’s victory changed the way Americans see reality. Turns out voters just really wanna win: Lee Drutman reviews Neither Liberal nor Conservative: Ideological Innocence in the American Public by Donald Kinder and Nathan Kalmoe. Why social media is terrible for multiethnic democracies: Sean Illing interviews Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. The introduction to One Nation Undecided: Clear Thinking About Five Hard Issues that Divide Us by Peter H. Schuck.
Would people agree about everything if we paid them? Research shows political disagreements vanish when people are paid. We need new ideas to reduce partisan polarization: Two now-standard responses — strengthening our parties and making two-party elections more competitive — are not going to reduce polarization. Sorry, but it’s entirely the Right’s fault: Many commentators are suggesting that both Right and Left are equally to blame for all the polarization between them — they’re wrong.
