It’s The Culture, Stupid: American Political Realignment in 1992

Abstract

It’s The Culture, Stupid: American Political Realignment in 1992 presents a novel case for how in 1992, American politics became driven by the nation’s culture, which in turn led Democrats, mirroring 19th Century Republicans, to abandon the reconstructive politics they had championed in prior decades. In 1992, cultural cues became the dominant force in politics, a change that permanently altered the country and created a new relationship between culture and politics, that while it has evolved, still exists today. As part of that process, I argue, a new Democratic Party was born—one that responded to cultural cues rather than to the needs of the groups it had fought for in the decades prior to that point. That fight—what I term to be the Second Reconstructive State—provided the backbone for the party from 1948 until 1992, when Democrats changed direction. I argue that the Second Reconstructive State mirrored the fight after the Civil War for the First Reconstructive State in America, which lasted from 1863 until 1877, when the Republican Party abandoned the fight for Black political rights in the South. In moving on from the Second Reconstructive State in 1992, I argue, Democrats abandoned both the class and race-based concerns that had driven the Democratic-led gains which improved millions of lives over the course of the 20th Century in the United States. In their abandonment of the Second Reconstructive State, Democrats tacked to the right—thus allowing Republicans to tack too, creating a more conservative center in American politics, which exists to this day. I explore this cultural-driven process through four characters: Congressman Joseph Rainey, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Howard Stern, and Anita Hill. Together, they help tell a story of America’s peaks and valleys: how gains were made, and how those gains were abandoned for political convenience and cultural concerns.