Political Parties Explainer for Foreign Students Visiting The US
Your parents may have been reluctant to send you to the United States to study because of our political unrest, bridges that are about to fall down, and creepy public bathroom stall doors that don’t reach the floor.
Once they have spent a fortune sending you to the US to enroll at Fred’s University, your parents may understandably want a report of the US extremism they read about in the news so they can report back to their friends.
Soundbites from you are a status item among parents back home and justify the cost of your year abroad. Indulge the parents!
While Americans are intent on distinguishing themselves from each other, from a tourist point of view, US citizens on both sides of the political spectrum have more in common than we would like to admit.
Sometimes it might be hard to tell left and right apart.
Often one political party or the other will take up a core American theme for a few decades, only to see it flipped to the other party some years later.
For example, in the 1960s anti-government terrorists were small-scale left-wingers and anarchists like the Weather Underground. But by the 1980s, anti-government terrorism was mostly right-wing and included militia groups as well as religious sects. The bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma by right-wing terrorists in 1995, which killed 168, people set the stage for the violent right-wing attempt to take over the capital in 2021.
Here is a list of 14 Core Political Beliefs in the US held by both Parties that you can share with your parents.
A Note on Terms:
In the United States, people call themselves “Americans,” even though our country takes up only part of North America. Americans do not think of other citizens of the Americas as Americans, and many know nothing of the geography of the Americas. As a foreign student, you may already know this from being asked how long it took you to drive from Paris to New York.
Canadians, Mexicans, or Nicaraguans never referred to as Americans in the United States. This is true for both Republicans and Democrats.
1. Both Parties Love Showmen, Hucksters and Hawkers
Politics are a product Americans buy: our politicians are salesmen more than representatives.
The modern media phenomenon of John F Kennedy, who made his mark as a telegenic star, created the precedent for literal movie star Ronald Reagan and TV star Donald Trump to become presidents.
Charismatic types who hype and oversell are so beloved by the American people that their very dishonesty is part of the appeal.
John F Kennedy was not a vigorous, healthy man with a happy marriage; Donald Trump is not a self-made millionaire. JFK was severely disabled, addicted to drugs, and a serial sexual predator; Trump squandered his stolen family fortune and made most of his money through tax fraud.
But American voters liked what these magnetic men were selling, scam or not.
2. Americans are Deeply Distrustful of the Government
Americans suspect that the government is lying to its citizens and covering up its crimes. Americans think that politicians are self-interested liars who conspire to steal tax dollars and fix markets for themselves.
The fact that our government changes hands frequently keeps the distrust alive on both sides of the political spectrum. Because parties are constantly running against each other, they can both sell distrust of government as a political product at the same time.
3. Both Parties Think The Press Is Biased
Right-wingers are angry about the perceived liberal bias of traditional media, and moderates are angry about the rise of indoctrinating extremist right-wing new media.
Studies show liberals and conservatives only see bias in stories that favor the other side. Both sides share a distrust of the press which they see as an agent of power.
4. Americans Love Conspiracy Theories
Stemming from the distrust of government on both sides of the aisle is the belief that there are connected secrets and lies that the government is keeping from us.
From Roswell to the Grassy Knoll, long-term plots involving multiple branches of government capture the imagination of both parties.
Liberal conspiracy theories suggest a hidden plot within the government to assassinate the Kennedys, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X, while Republicans fume about a Deep State resisting President Trump from within.
That some conspiracy theories turn out to be true, does not take from the desire to have unproven dark theories whose very appeal is that they cannot be verified.
5. Americans Think Voting Is Not Fair
There is a long history of voter fraud and suppression in the US, which is taught in US textbooks.
The historical narrative foregrounded by Democrats who point to the (proven) crimes against black voters has been flipped into a right-wing fantasy of voter fraud in 2020.
We have gone from hanging chads to ballot “dumps” in a very short political cycle.
6. Americans are Obsessed with Political Hypocrisy
To defend his own sexual harassment, Donald Trump pointed to Bill Clinton’s long history of sexual assault. To defend Bill Clinton’s lies about his sexual exploitation of a young intern, his supporters pointed to the adulteries of his accusers. Hypocrisy is central to American politics.
American hypocrisy is very clear from abroad. America promoted itself as the beacon of Democracy around the world while propping up dictators. America champions human rights and yet administrations on both sides trample on them.
First, you commit hypocrisy, then you accuse others of it. Americans are hypocritical about hypocrisy.
Pointing out the hypocrisy of the other party is a standard in American politics that goes well with Distrust of the Government and the number of Hucksters and Frauds we elect.
7. We are Not Over Our Monarchy Fix
The political empire of the Adams family in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries undermined the transition from inherited monarchy. The problem reared its head again with three generations of the Bush family.
Bill Clinton gave his wife political power in the White House and Trump installed his children. Both men assumed that they were starting a presidential dynasty, American style.
Black Sheep relatives, Machiavalian Fathers, Showboating Siblings, and the Hated Women Who Try To Horn In are the most common characters in this American family drama going back to the Early Republic.
From John Adam’s drunken son Charles to Hunter Biden, dysfunctional families with troubled father figures are a standard of our faux monarchy.
Both Democrats and Republicans love to hate on the hypocrisy of the other side when their dynasty implodes.
8. Americans are Distrustful of Medicine
Shifting medical advice is seen as an example of the untrustworthiness of science instead of as a manifestation of progress. Americans think they are cheated out of the best care by greedy insurance and pharma companies. This belief is shared by Park Avenue primadonnas and the poor with no access to healthcare. Shifting medical advice is seen as an example of the untrustworthiness of science instead of as a manifestation of progress.
On the left, you might hear about racial and gender disparities in medical care, where on the right you might hear about vaccines making us into cyborgs.
Sometimes the same figure can return as a target of both parties. After watching the Gay Men’s Health Crisis fight Anthony Fauci over the handling of AIDs, conservatives protested Anthony Fauci over the handling of Covid.
9. Even Racist White Americans Identify With Black Americans
In appropriation of the central drama of the Black American, white Americans in both parties have built their entire national narrative around the idea of freedom. The fight for freedom and the need to defend it play into every political argument between the two parties on both sides.
Both parties participate in the white American romance with Black culture, even as whites in each party benefit from the racist government policies which have built our modern apartheid based on structural racism.
10. Americans Are Distrustful of Science & Technology
Most Americans dislike math and are suspicious of people who are good at it. Technocrats are seen as sinister and manipulative. Technology is understood to be an illegitimate means of control of the masses on both sides.
Democrats villainized the Bush administration when it used the Patriot Act to spy on citizens with digital technology. Trump villainized TikTok when it went against him, only to have the FBI under Biden declare the Chinese government could use TikTok to spy on Americans.
Everyone laughed when a US Senator asked Mark Zuckerberg how Facebook makes money. The government is seen as incompetent in the face of the evil machinations of Silicon Valley. Since neither is to be trusted, both are political targets of the left and right.
11. Americans Are Entitled Underdogs
Americans are obsessed with their rights, which they define against other people’s rights. The slaveholder believes his right to his so-called property trumps the rights of human beings. The rights of the Homeowners Association trump the rights of property owners. The rights of corporations trump the rights of citizens.
Every group in America has a narcissistic wound, hurt, or injury against their perceived rights which they believe are threatened. These conflicts flip back and forth between Democrats and Republicans with the same psychology on both sides.
12. The American Flag Is Dragged Through The Mud By Both Parties
In 1968, Congress approved the Federal Flag Desecration Law following a Vietnam War protest where protesters burned American flags. After that, the Republican party became heavily associated with the flag.
In this century, right-wingers have adopted the Confederate flag. On January 6th pro-Trump insurrectionists tore down an American flag and flew Neo-Nazi, Confederate, MAGA, and South Vietnamese flags while defecating in the capitol building.
The flag flies both ways.
13. Americans Don’t Think The Government Should Be Involved In Your Personal Life
Democrats and a majority of Americans think the government should not be able to control women’s right to an abortion. Republicans think the government should not be able to take away your guns. Democrats think the government should not be able to censor what teachers teach in the classroom. Republicans think the government should not be able to force people to follow pandemic protocols.
The argument for personal freedom is central to arguments on both sides of the political spectrum and is used whenever useful.
14. Anti-Government Protest Is Central To American Identity
As a post-colonial nation, our identity is tied up in rebellion against the government. The protest mob is what made America. Political protest is our longest-held historical value from before the Tea Party.
Each party is in constant rebellion against the other.
The American Revolution against authority, which began with small protests of motivated citizens, has never ended.
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