Why is The USA shifting leftward

[eric82oslo]

There are so so so many reasons to be honest, but some of the most important ones are:

1. Income inequality is at its highest levels since the 1920ies, every honest economist left and right will point this out for you. This is due to conservative right wing policies (less regulations, lower taxes for the rich, privatization) started by Ronald Reagan, and accelerated by most administrations since, as well as due to globalisation. GOP is rightfully seen as the party of and for the rich.

2. USA is no longer the WASP country (White Anglo Saxon Protestants) it once was. While the oldest generation is something like 86-87% white, the generation of new voters is coming very close to 50-50 white and minority these days, I think it's something like 54-46 white at the moment.

3. Urbanization of the electorate, and typically rural jobs slowly disappearing.

4. Young people are less religious as well as somewhat more highly educated and concerned about scientific methods than their parents and grandparents. The whole social revolution of more liberal views on gay marriage and marijuana, criminal justice reform, and to some extent even increasing interest in gun control and more critical views on the negative sides with death penalty probably fits in under this point.

5. Immigration and second generation immigrants. Even though immigration from Latin America has slowed considerably, it just keeps accelerating for Puerto Ricans and Asians, two strongly Democratic minded groups. In addition to this, young Cubans are starting to lean Democratic since their world views and interests are very different to those of their hyper capitalist and Castro hating parents and grandparents.

6. Intermarriage and a more multicultural/multiethnic population make more and more people by the day realize that the whole racist Southern Strategy and Jim Crow-alike laws are morally very wrong.

7. Internet, technology and other forms of mass globalisation has made the world much smaller and given Americans a taste of other opinions and points of views outside what's been considered traditionally American, including views from Canada, Mexico, the rest of Latin America, Europe and Asia. Even relatively new cable news channels like CNN have brought this expended horizon into the living rooms of many Americans. Social media like Facebook and Twitter has radically accelerated this process.

8. The electorate is tired of constant wars and the billions of dollars Pentagon each year is wasting on unnecessary and often even very harmful wars, both politically and when it comes to human costs and lives. Many are starting to question why the USA has to spend as much money on its military as the rest of the remaining NATO countries combined, or the next 10 big military spending countries combined, including China and Russia. Again, GOP is seen as the warmongering party with bucketloads of military hawks who can't possibly imagine there to be an actual roof on military spending.

9. Constantly higher voter turnout among African Americans, especially so in the south, where they were almost shut out from voting entirely in the 1960ies and even for most of the 1970ies. So far, higher voter turnout has yet to hit the Asian and Latino populations, but that could very well happen one day too (and probably will), as these groups get older (and thus more frequent voters), more integrated into society and perhaps get their own Latino or Asian candidates to vote for at the top (or bottom) of the ticket.

10. The strongly rightward shift of the Republican party at the same time as more and more voters regard themselves as independents. Yes, the Democratic party is shifting leftward too, but judging on voting records in Congress, only at about half the speed (or slightly more) than the GOP is moving rightward.

11. The makeup of the US economy constantly shifting (to a large degree due to globalisation and a revolution in technology) away from industry and agriculture towards the service sector, both the private one as well as in an increased government sector, both sectors more inclined to align with modern Democratic values than the blue collar industry workers ("who cling to their guns and religion") and rural workers.

There are (probably) quite a few more points to be made as well, but these are the ones that came to my mind now.

[eric82oslo]

I'm honestly not sure we're drifting leftward, considering we keep electing extremist neocon reactionaries to control Congress and more than half the state legislatures in America.

That is to a large degree due to gerrymandering, Democrats clumping together in the big cities and very low midterm turnout which favours older, richer voters and Republicans more generally. It might also be due to the new campaign finance laws instated by the Supreme Court where Republicans dominate Super PACs to a much larger degree than Democrats do. Again, super rich Americans are trying to keep the statues quo of low taxes for the rich, low amount of regulations, tons of loopholes etcetera, or even enhance it further.

[eric82oslo]

Name a single issue, other than gay marriage and perhaps drugs, where we are to the left of where we were a generation ago.  There aren't any!

Public opinion is, but public policy isn't.

The abortion issue is the one that I am most familiar with, and public opinion is far more pro-life than 20 years ago.

It's still 50/50, actually.

It's 50-50 now, as opposed to like 2-1 pro-choice in the 1990s.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/1576/abortion.aspx

More people consider themselves pro-life, yes, but that's irrelevant when it doesn't correlate to an increase in the number of people saying it should be illegal in all circumstances.

The first graph is much more important.

Saying it should be illegal in all cases is as extreme and stupid as saying it should be available on demand right up until a week before delivery, though I'm guessing this site is way more sympathetic to the latter view.

I think that the USA has more liberal practises on abortion than Scandinavia. I think that the normal limit for abortion in most Nordic countries, if I'm not mistaken, is around 12 weeks. Beyond 12 weeks you'd need a medical reason or something in order to have an abortion, I think. (Correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm not an expert on Nordic abortion laws lol.)

[eric82oslo]

Also, rural areas really aren't shifting leftward. Granted, the rural areas are also losing population.

The rural areas aren't shifting leftwards because they're losing most of their gay liberals as well as their women, any other questions?

[eric82oslo]

Also, rural areas really aren't shifting leftward. Granted, the rural areas are also losing population.

The rural areas aren't shifting leftwards because they're losing most of their gay liberals as well as their women, any other questions?

We're in a period where rural areas are very open to conservatism ... That's not true everywhere in the US, it hasn't always been true and it won't always be true in the future.

Looooolz, what an answer. That was seriously the best you could give?