Notes On “The Culture War”

Notes On “The Culture War”
by Steve Finkelstein

For those who can stomach it, a postmortem on the election: during the course of this contentious Presidential election, we have frequently heard the term “culture war.” This was a term coined by Pat Buchanan to describe the ideological conflict waged over “moral values” that is so deeply dividing this nation. This cultural divide starkly deals with the issues of God, gays, guns, and unfortunately, (because it breaks the alliteration chain in this sentence, among other reasons) abortions.

This war is being waged between U.S. states that tend to be rural, religious and conservative (the so-called “red” states) vs. states that are more urban, secular and liberal (the so-called “blue” states). Many people believe that this “war” began with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, which also ushered in a Republican majority in the Senate for the first time since 1956, but that’s not quite true. Reagan won both his elections in landslides; contrast those results with the narrow margin by which Bush won, and we can see that the current ideological divide that is currently plaguing this country was not nearly as prevalent back in the early 80's. Ronald Reagan--mediocre President that I believe he was--was a figure beloved by millions, and not the polarizing force that many consider George Bush to be. Even Reagan’s detractors had to admit that he brilliantly skewered Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale in the debates, with clever catchphrases and his roguish sense of humor.

Then, in the wake of the Iran-Contra scandal, the Democrats regained control of the Senate in the 1986 Senate election. This, along with regaining control of the House of Representatives, gave the Democrats a solid majority in Congress for years to come. Republican President, Democratic Congress--it would seem that this dynamic could have easily been the spark that began this division. Still, in my humble opinion, the first shots in the culture war were yet to be fired.

So when did this conflict first start? It started very quietly in 1987, when the FCC overturned what was known as the “Fairness Doctrine.” This doctrine previously decreed that, on the airwaves, if you had an on-air personality that was of a certain ideological stripe (i.e., conservative), it had to be counterbalanced with someone from the opposite end of the spectrum (i.e., a liberal co-host). When this doctrine was overturned, a second and much louder shot was fired in the culture war: Rush Limbaugh began his right-wing AM radio talk show in 1988.

When Limbaugh began his show, AM radio was moribund, losing many of its listeners to FM rock stations. Limbaugh quickly reversed this trend; his brand of rabble-rousing, demagogic conservatism became an enormous ratings success and money generator. He struck a particular nerve among white Christian males (his key audience demographic), who reveled in his attacks against liberalism, i.e. labelling feminists as “femi-nazis.”

An even louder shot in the culture war was heard during the 1994 Congressional election. By this time, Limbaugh was heard on hundreds of radio stations, and he spawned numerous conservative radio host imitators, who, by 1994, were multiplying on the airwaves like locusts. They stoked the anger that their listeners were feeling toward the Clinton administration’s efforts to institute national health care, and a consensus among NRA members that their guns were to be taken away. This resulted in the “Republican revolution” that swept the congress, not only re-taking the Senate, but also gaining a majority in the house for the first time since 1954. At the time, many credited Limbaugh for the success of the “Republican revolution.”

Fast forward to the 2004 election and we find that many of the same listeners of conservative talk radio put Bush over the top, but with an additional component: conservative or Evangelical Christians. Many people thought (including myself) that Kerry had a shot at winning, because so many voters were angry at Bush’s policies. What we didn’t count on was the fact that many Evangelical Christians were also angry and even more of them came out to vote, ensuring Bush’s victory. This flew under the national radar because they were quieter about their anger than the left was; they are the “silent majority” (albeit a narrow one), a term Richard Nixon used in reference to his voting base.

I was totally unaware of the anger and hatred that Evangelicals felt toward liberalism until I read Frank Pastore’s op-ed piece in the 11/5 edition of the LA Times. Pastore is a host on a Christian talk radio station; baseball fans may also remember that Pastore was a major league pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds and Minnesota Twins from 1979 to 1986. I was truly stunned by the vitriol Pastore hurled at liberalism; maybe his anger is a re-direction away from the anger he possibly felt toward himself over his mediocre pitching career.

In his article, Pastore states, “On Tuesday, this nation rejected liberalism...we must help those Democrats who truly want to be free of this evil ideology.” What Pastore states is less of a wish for political re-alignment, but sounds more like the fervor that accompanies such evangelical events as Christians converting “non-believers” to their religion, “curing” gays of homosexuality, and casting out the devil during exorcism rites. Pastore further writes, “Simply, a majority of Americans have rejected John Kerry and the left because they were wrong.” 56 million Americans voted for Kerry--would Pastore like to put them into Evangelical concentration camps for re-indoctrination? Pastore’s moral absolutism sounds less like Christian philosophy and more like the hatred spewed by Iranian Mullahs. If Jesus were alive today, he’d be ashamed of the bile that Pastore is spewing.

From my point of view, it seems that the current culture war could be more accurately termed a “Second Civil War” or a “cold Civil War.” This fact was rammed home when I received a map of the pre-Civil War U.S., shown below. All the states and territories that favored slavery are the same geographical locations that voted for Bush in 2004. It appears that, in this Second Civil War, the other side has won...for now.

See you soon.

Steve can be reached at steve@babblog.com.