Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics

Chapter 2: Idealist and Civic Eras in American History

Chapter 2 Idealist and Civic Eras in American History THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY, America has experienced major political upheavals, or realignments, about every four decades. These realignments are caused by the coming of age of a new generation and the development of a new communications technology that is particularly appealing to the emerging generation. The differing characteristics of the emerging generation produce two very distinctive types of political realignments: civic and idealist. A civic realignment is strongly centered on cooperative efforts to resolve societal problems and build institutions because those are the typical attitudes and values of a civic archetype generation. Idealist realignments, in line with the beliefs of that generational archetype, are driven by attempts to use the political process to achieve or defend deeply held personal values above all else. While in certain respects what happens during and after civic and idealist realignments is similar, in many other important ways the results that flow from the two types of political realignment are very different. In seeking to understand these similarities and differences it is important to remember that neither type of realignment refers to a particular partisan or ideological direction.Throughout the course of American history, the Democratic and Republican Parties have both led idealist and civic realignments. Both liberals and conservatives have, at various times, supported the strong political adherence to personal values that characterize idealist eras and the problem resolution and institution building that mark civic eras. But the similarities and differences between the two types of realignments do reveal what will happen to the nation’s politics during the next three or four decades, no matter which candidate or party takes advantage of the changes that are about to occur. 30 Chap-02.qxd 11/23/07 4:28 PM Page 30 Idealist and Civic Eras in American History 31 Realignments Bring People to the Polls Because of the sheer size of the realigning generations, and also because the realignments are triggered by major societal crises, both idealist and civic realignments are often accompanied by a sharp initial increase in voter turnout. In 1828 nearly 60 percent of the voting-age population turned out at the polls, up sharply from about 25 percent in 1824. In the civic realigning era centering on the 1860 election, voter turnout rose from 70 percent in 1852 to 79 percent in 1856 to 81 percent in 1860. Turnout also increased in the next idealist realignment in the last decade of the nineteenth century, rising from 75 percent of the voting age population in 1892 to 79 percent in 1896. In the New Deal realigning era, participation rates rose from only 49 percent in 1924 to 57 percent in 1928 before falling back to 53 percent in 1932 and then rising to 57 percent again in 1936.Voting participation did not increase in 1968, but it did remain at nearly the same relatively high percentage of the voting population (61%) that it was in both 1960 (63%) and 1964 (62%). The percentage of voting-age Americans who cast presidential ballots in 1968 was greater than it had been in 1956 (59%), and well above what it was in 1948 (51%). Based on these historical precedents, voter turnout is likely to rise, in 2008, as it did in 2004 and 2006, and to maintain that level of participation, or even rise again, in 2012. Realignments Break Up the Old Gangs and Create New Ones The idealist realignments of 1828, 1896, and 1968 and the civic realignments of 1860 and 1932 all led to the creation of a clear and stable set of party coalitions, which held together for decades until they were once again altered in the next realignment. In the 1828 realignment, Andrew Jackson’s agrarian Democrats, centered in the South and West, were the heart of Old Hickory’s constituencies, while the commercial and industrially orientedWhigs, centered in the Northeast and especially in New England, fought him tooth and nail. These two coalitions differed not only in the economic interests they represented but also in the more traditional values Democrats endorsed in contrast with the Whig’s promotion of modern values (Lipset 1978). The coalitions shifted somewhat in the 1860 civic realignment. The South, especially with the end of Reconstruction, became overwhelmingly Chap-02.qxd 11/23/07 4:28 PM Page 31 Cy c l e s o f A m e r i ca n P...