The 60's were a time of great expansion on all fronts. Socially there was the summer of love, the civil rights movement, and woman's lib; and economically there was globilization, a media boom, and computers.
This level of expansion has to be followed by a period of integration. This integration touches on all parts of our culture. In politics it has led to a politcs of regression.
Note: regression usually has a negative conotation, but here I'm using it strictly as the concept that after a growth period there follows a regressive period of integration.
The politic regression is a coming to terms to the social changes that occured in the 60's. A mistake currently being made in politics is that we are no longer dealng with the changes that occured in the 60's. The reality, as I see it is, that the changes made in the 60's were generational changes, meaning that the scope of these changes were so profound it'll take atleast a generation before they become integrated into society.
An example of this is civil rights. From what I can conclude from both researching media and personal observation is that institutional racism is no longer an issue for people under 30. Most of the social tension in that age group is based more along economic issues than race. But for the baby boomers and some that came of age in the 70's racism is still a part of the worldview. We still, on some level, segregate along racial preferences.
Barack Obama was elected because, in part, race is no longer an issue to his core younger constiuents. Since his elelction there has been a reactionary movement built around a segment of older people for whom race is still an issue. They will diguise it in economic and liberty rhetoric, but at the core it's just a racist reaction towards a black president. It goes unsaid but I believe that part of the resason the Repulican party will not bargain with Obama on anything is that they simply won't abide by a black president.
So how does politics deal with this divide? This is a the core question of modern politics.
