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| Home Front: Culture Wars | |
| Where Are the Liberals? | |
| 2012-01-10 | |
ItÂ’s not because liberalism lacks cultural power. Many polls suggest that a majority of college professors and national journalists vote Democratic. The movie, TV, music and publishing industries are dominated by liberals. ItÂ’s not because recent events have disproved the liberal worldview. On the contrary, weÂ’re still recovering from a financial crisis caused, in large measure, by Wall Street excess. Corporate profits are zooming while worker salaries are flat. ItÂ’s not because liberalismÂ’s opponents are going from strength to strength. The Republican Party is unpopular and sometimes embarrassing. Given the circumstances, this should be a golden age of liberalism. Yet the percentage of Americans who call themselves liberals is either flat or in decline. There are now two conservatives in this country for every liberal. Over the past 40 years, liberalism has been astonishingly incapable at expanding its market share. The most important explanation is what you might call the Instrument Problem. Americans may agree with liberal diagnoses, but they donÂ’t trust the instrument the Democrats use to solve problems. They donÂ’t trust the federal government. A few decades ago they did, but now they donÂ’t. Roughly 10 percent of Americans trust government to do the right thing most of the time, according to an October New York Times, CBS News poll. Why donÂ’t Americans trust their government? ItÂ’s not because they dislike individual programs like Medicare. ItÂ’s more likely because they think the whole system is rigged. Or to put it in the economistsÂ’ language, they believe the government has been captured by rent-seekers. | |
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