Blog 10 - The Culture Wars
Bill Clinton’s campaign got off to a rocky start. 2 weeks after he announced his presidential bid, rumors of an affair took aim at his reputation, and almost ended his campaign. Nonetheless, he was able to defeat H.W Bush and Ross Perot.
Clinton was quick to outline his goals and vison for his term in office. Addressing Congress in 1993 saying: “Our nation needs a new direction. Tonight, I present to you our comprehensive plan to set our nation on that new course.” He also wanted to overhaul the American healthcare system. In his same speech addressing congress he spoke about his goal for the healthcare system: “Later this spring, I will deliver to Congress a comprehensive plan for health care reform that will finally get costs under control. We will provide security to all our families, so that no one will be denied the coverage they need.” Now, this vision was not popular among Republicans. Pat Buchanan famously spoke out against Clinton's agenda in a 1992 RNC speech which has been called “The Culture war.” He opposes Clinton's views, and it highlights how spilt the nation is politically saying: “Friends, this election is about more than who gets what. It is about who we are. It is about what we believe and what we stand for as Americans. There is a religious war going on in this country. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we shall be as the Cold War itself.” In 1995 however, there was a small bit of unity between Clinton and house Republicans. This was during the Budget negotiations, and Clinton embraced some of their ideas.
Politics was not the only “war” going on in Society. Race, sexuality, and discrimination, all had their own fights going on. The L.A “Race Riots” took place in 1992 while Clinton’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, designed to allow Gays and Lesbians to serve in the military, backfired.
With so much disagreement in the country, how did the culture war polarize US
politics in the 1990s?
During the 1990's, there was already much agreement between political parties and the Culture War did not help. Although Clinton wanted to bring the divided "sides" of America together, "we need to break the
ReplyDeleteold habits of both political parties in Washington. We must say that there can be no more
something for nothing, and we are all in this together" (Clinton Agenda 2), it didn't end out that way. With Pat Buchanan criticizing Clinton's speech and ideas and riots occuring because of gays and lesbians being allowed to enter the military, the "Culture War" tore apart politics even more.
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DeleteThe culture war has polarized the US by making ordinary political opponents seem like enemies of the people. In Pat Buchanan’s culture war speech, he states that, “this election is about much more than who gets what. It is about who we are. It is about what we believe. It is about what we stand for as Americans” (Buchanan). By saying this he makes the election between Bush and Clinton seem like a life and death scenario for the entire nation. He claims that American ideals are at stake when what was really at stake was just a change in who was president. By blowing issues out of proportion, Buchanan was successfully turning the nation against each other and polarizing America.
ReplyDeleteThe culture war has polarized U.S politics in the 1990s by making the nation believe that depending on who the people voted on is how the people stand for as Americans. “This election is about more than who gets what. It is about who we are. It is about what we believe and what we stand for as Americans” (Pat Buchanan on the Culture War, 1992, American Yawp). Buchanan’s speech made people have strong and different opinions and it creates chaos, which helped polarize the U.S.
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ReplyDeleteThe Culture war has polarized the U.S politics in the 1990s. The culture War would make the nation believe that people in politics were against the people. With Clinton's speech it says "If we work hard—and work together—if we rededicate ourselves to strengthening families, creating jobs, rewarding work, and reinventing government, we can lift America’s fortunes once again"(Clinton Agenda 2). With the people in charge of the government trying to make the american people on their side.
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