A most excellent Media Matters report from June exposes the myth of a conservative America with facts and figures:
Democrats may win an election here or there, but at its most fundamental level, conventional political wisdom assumes America is a conservative country: hostile to government, in favor of unregulated markets, at peace with inequality, desirous of a foreign policy based on the projection of military power, and traditional in its social values.
This report demonstrates the inaccuracy of that picture of America. Media perceptions and past Republican electoral successes notwithstanding, Americans are progressive across a wide range of controversial issues, and they're growing more progressive all the time.
Follow me below the fold to see the historical depth of that right-wing myth, or, as I prefer to call it, right-wing lie.
There have been ups and downs, and I doubt that anybody disputes that. But historically speaking, the notion of a "conservative America" is nothing but poppycock.
The United States was a progressive nation when the first ten amendments to the Constitution were ratified in 1791 as the Bill of Rights.
The United States was a progressive nation when the 13th amendment was ratified in 1865, thus abolishing slavery.
The United States was a progressive nation when the 15th amendment was ratified in 1870, thus allowing men of color to vote.
The United States was a progressive nation when the 16th amendment was ratified in 1913, thus allowing the federal government to finance part of its operation by taxing the income of individuals and businesses.
The United States was a progressive nation when the 19th amendment was ratified in 1920, thus allowing women to vote.
The United States was a progressive nation when the 23rd amendment was ratified in 1961, thus enfranchising the District of Columbia in Presidential elections.
The United States was a progressive nation when the 27th amendment was ratified in 1971, thus allowing young adults who were old enough to die in combat to vote for the politicians who would put them in harm's way.
The United States has always been a progressive nation and, by all reasonable extrapolations into the future, always will be.
The real culture war is between the progressive majority and the plutocracy -- between the ordinary citizenry and a small handful of moneyed gentry who have been allowed to call most of the shots for far too long.
Let's put Barack Obama in the White House and an overwhelming progressive majority in both chambers of Congress. We may not agree with every single thing they think and do, but they're on our side of the culture war.