> Marvin Gandall wrote:
>
>>My political barometer is my apolitical friends, neighbours, and
>>relatives. They help me assess the popular mood. I can't imagine them
>>simply
>>rolling over if they lose their jobs and homes and sense of physical
>>security - the essential characteristics, it seems to me of a systemic
>>crisis - or that they will move to the right rather than the left when
>>they
>>discover the need for political action.
>
> You're speaking of Canadians, right? It's not hard to imagine
> Americans rolling over or moving right.
>
> Doug
---------------------------
That is unsettling - and it's a point you and others have made before, which I kind of thought was half tongue in cheek, because I truly can't see that happening up here and regard the more liberal and urbanized Northern and upper coastal states as largely sharing the same political culture as us. That view was reinforced for me after the last election when those Jesusland/United States of Canada maps started circulating on the Net. Is the perception of two parallel political universes - red states, blue states (more accurately, IMO, red hinterlands, blue cities) - greatly exaggerated or is there substance to it? Wouldn't you expect to see a polarization: Republican ranks moving right and Democrat ranks moving left if things actually did start falling apart, reflecting the current equally divided political alignment in the country? My sense was that the Democrat base was already moving past its leadership to the left over Iraq. It was easy to contain such movement over a conflict in a far away country involving relatively few American casualties. But if their more immediate self-interests were involved, I have to think liberal Americans (even if they shy away from the label) would be much more energetic in pressing their demands, both inside the party and out. But you're there and you observe and speak to these folks every day.
MG