In a post from yesterday, Daily Kos's mcjoan complains about the Blue Dog Democrats:
In true full Broderism, the likes of Reps. Allen Boyd, Dennis Moore, and Mike Ross are trumpeting their moderating influences on the Democratic party in today's Roll Call [subscription]. Here's a choice bit from Boyd:
"Let's face it, we all know that both parties, in large part, are controlled by extremes that in some cases are different from what we might represent in the middle," Boyd said. "We don't think the Speaker's philosophy or her particular district's philosophy is important. What we think is important is the management style she uses. How she is inclusive with us, how she acts."
We all know that Nancy Pelosi is an extremist? Only Allen Boyd and his band of 44 Blue Dogs represent the middle? The remaining 190 Dems are a bunch of far-left whacked out extremists?
Taking what's been quoted here at face value, the difference would appear to be where the defining points of the political spectrum are considered to be -- where the center is, and what is considered to be "extreme." I had the idea that the difference in perception between the Blue Dogs and the rest of the Democratic House caucus might be explained by demographics.
One of the recurring things I've written about over the years (and it's hardly an original thought) is that the recent triumphs of the right-wing have been made possible by their concerted effort to create and grow a political-social-media infrastructure through which they've influenced our national political conversation in such a way as to have ideas that were considered on the far fringes of the extreme right-wing become an accepted part of the discussion. By getting their whack-jobs notions into the mainstream, via their think tanks, media outlets, op-eds, talk radio, Fox News, and all the other parts of the Noise Machine, not to mention through their capture of one of the two mainstream parties in American politics, the Right has effectively moved the political center rightwards by extending the acceptable part of the right end of the spectrum. This effort on their part began with their regrouping after the defeat of Goldwater in 1964, and reached a high point with the election of Reagan in 1980.
That is where demographics enters the picture. Last night, when I had this idea, I took a look at the birthdates of the 44 Blue Dog Democrats and compared their average age to that of the rest of the caucus. What I found was that while the average age of non-Blue Dog Democrats was 59 (born in 1948), the average age of the Blue Dogs was 53 (born in 1954). While 6 years doesn't seem like much of a difference, I think it might have been critical in creating a difference in the political perceptions of the two groups.
While I'm in no way an expert, I did a little Googling on the subject, and found a study which indicated that the age of onset of political awareness in children is around 10 to 12, around the 4th and 5th grades. That seems reasonable to me, and comports with my own memory and my observations. And, of course, the right to vote begins at age 18, which would suggest that this is a landmark age as well in terms of developing political consciousness. My supposition, therefore, is that the ages of 10 to 18 are a critical period in determing a person's perception of politics, and that the differences in what occured in American politics during this period for the two groups (Blue Dogs and non-Blue Dogs) might explain their differing perceptions.
For the 190 non-Blue Dog Democrats, whose average age is 59 (born in 1948) the critical age range falls in the years from 1958 to 1966. This period begins with the moderate Eisenhower, continues through the Kennedy years, and ends with the defeat of Goldwater and the triumph of LBJ. The overall thrust of this time is the ascendancy of liberalism (as defined at the time) and the utter humiliation of right-wing extremism.
On the other hand, the Blue Dogs, with their average age of 53 (born in 1954), have their period of political development from 1964 to 1972. This time period begins with the defeat of Goldwater and proceeds from there. The social liberalism of Kenndy and Johnson is degraded by the morass of Vietnam, which brings Johnson down. Nixon, on the other hand, wins the Presidency using the conservative "southern strategy," and is triumphally re-elected. While not a movement conservative on the order of Reagan, Nixon's power is clearly linked to the acceptance of right-wing tropes in the nation's political byplay.
The six year difference between the groups seems critical. While the non-Blue Dogs developed political consciousness at a time of liberal ascendancy, the Blue Dogs did so during a period of conservative rise. That the Blue Dogs can see themselves as moderates and the rest of the caucus as being controlled by extremists may well be an effect of when they were born.
Addendum (7/22/2009): Got this today, I've got no idea what it's about:
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Thanks to: Breeze, Chuck, Ivan Raikov, Kaiju, Kathy, Roger, Shirley, S.M. Dixon
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Fred Hiatt (WaPo)
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Philip E. Johnson
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Stephen C. Meyer (DI)
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Tom Monaghan
Sun Myung Moon
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the story so far
unfutz: toiling in almost complete obscurity for almost 1500 days
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