Brilliant, horrifying read in the NYT - "The Contract With Authoritarianism"

[NRaleighLiberal]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/05/opinion/trump-authoritarianism-republicans-contract.html?WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&action=click&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&pgtype=Homepage&region=opinion-c-col-left-region

by Thomas Edsall

(so sorry for those of you who can't get to this because of the paywall - it really is essential reading, I think)

In 1994, Newt Gingrich, brandishing his Contract with America, led a Republican revolution that swept aside Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate, initiating an epoch of conservative ascendancy that lingers on. Don Sipple, a Republican campaign consultant, declared at the time that the 1994 midterms pitted a Republican Party calling for “discipline” against a Democratic Party focused on “therapy.”

Two years later, George Lakoff, a professor of linguistics at Berkeley, published “Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think,” which argued that

Deeply embedded in conservative and liberal politics are two different models of the family. Conservatism is based on a Strict Father model, while liberalism is centered on a Nurturant Parent model. These two models of the family give rise to different moral systems.

Several approaches to contemporary politics echo the insights of Sipple and Lakoff. The crucial word now, however, is authoritarianism.

The election of Donald Trump — built as it was on several long-term trends that converged in 2016 — has created an authoritarian moment. This somewhat surprising development is the subject of “Remaking Partisan Politics through Authoritarian Sorting,” a forthcoming book by the political scientists Christopher Federico, Stanley Feldman and Christopher Weber, who argue that

Three trends — polarization, media change, and the rise of what many people see as threats to the traditional social order — have contributed to a growing divide within American politics. It is a divide between those who place heavy value on social order and cohesion relative to those who value personal autonomy and independence.

(snip - there is so much more to read, including some startling data/graphs.)

[msongs]

1. curious to see a list of dems party leadership who reads/discusses this sort of thing nt

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. Exactly. This should be essential reading and considering as we move forward.

The link to right wing hate media is important to this as well, being a chief enabler for the many that are vulnerable.