The white middle class and conservatism: a history

[memphis]

What are you talking about? People weren't conservative at all after WWII. It was the age of the great liberal consensus.

[memphis]

What are you talking about? People weren't conservative at all after WWII. It was the age of the great liberal consensus.

I mean "conservative" in a traditional/cultural attitudes sense, not the modern American sense.

You think moving to the suburbs to live in air-conditioned and television induced euphoria was in line with traditional society? The postwar years were HUGELY transformative. What about them do you find conservative?

[memphis]

What are you talking about? People weren't conservative at all after WWII. It was the age of the great liberal consensus.

I mean "conservative" in a traditional/cultural attitudes sense, not the modern American sense.

You think moving to the suburbs to live in air-conditioned and television induced euphoria was in line with traditional society? The postwar years were HUGELY transformative. What about them do you find conservative?

different era where the terms had different meanings. If one looks at the congressional delegations of that time, one won't find very many Barney Franks or Chuck Schumers.

They weren't big on the gays, granted. But what's so different about Chuckie? Liberal Jews from New York aren't a 21st century invention.

[memphis]

What are you talking about? People weren't conservative at all after WWII. It was the age of the great liberal consensus.

I mean "conservative" in a traditional/cultural attitudes sense, not the modern American sense.

You think moving to the suburbs to live in air-conditioned and television induced euphoria was in line with traditional society? The postwar years were HUGELY transformative. What about them do you find conservative?

Attitudes  about race, gender roles, sexuality, Communism, etc.?

Attitudes about all of the above became markedly different after the war. Not that it happenned overnight, but the post war era saw the end of Jim Crow and a tremendous expansion of opportunities for women. The first hit sitcom featured a female star married to a Hispanic man. The introduction of the pill freed people to have sex with whomever they chose without risk of pregnancy. And concern about Communism isn't a liberal or conservative issue. Although many on the right used paranoia about Communism for political gain, only a negligible number of Americans have ever wanted a totalitarian state.

[memphis]

I'm more of a cynical liberal and would rather have a culture with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJqJEItzpdk rather than this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyCl3BdlICY

You prefer watching movies to commercials? Ok. You probably prefer ice cream to calculus homework too.

[memphis]

I think that government policies that give a "hand up" are better than the ones that give a "hand out."  That's where I draw the line.  Anything unconditional doesn't have my support.  That's what most Americans believe, it's just that polarization is so appealing to both parties.

Not true at all. The biggest handouts, Social Security and Medicare, are the most popular.