The Anderson Files: Democracy isn’t corny but

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April 28, 2022

Volume XXIX, Number 34

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Democracy isn’t corny but essential for equitable & decent society

by Dave Anderson

Are the Republicans going crazy? ey are banning books, criminalizing abortion, attacking public school teachers who talk about racism, passing anti-LGBT laws and indiscriminately accusing opponents of being pedophiles. Broadly speaking, this isn’t terribly popular and these issues aren’t what most people are concerned about.

Nevertheless, those issues are vehemently supported by a loud, well-funded and highly organized minority. In this midterm year, the Republicans need to win over moderate voters, but they calculate that many of them might not be paying attention.

In a New York Times op-ed in October 2020, political scientists Yanna Krupnikov and John Barry Ryan said that “most Americans—upward of 80% to 85%—follow politics casually or not at all.” Most commentators talk about hopelessly bitter partisan polarization but there is an “enormous gulf” between political junkies and the politically indi erent.

Krupnikov and Ryan note, “For partisans, politics is a morality play, a struggle of good versus evil. But most Americans just see two angry groups of people bickering over issues that may not always seem pressing or important.” On a number of issues, their survey reveals that many Americans don’t t neatly into partisan camps: “For example, Democrats and Republicans who don’t follow politics closely believe that low hourly wages are one of the most important problems facing the country. But for hard partisans, the issue barely registers.”

Activists in the labor movement are aware of this situation. When they organize a workplace, they have to win over workers who have a variety of political viewpoints.