Why America’s Toxic Politics Are Actually a Good Thing
They’re also nothing new
Just a few short years ago, everyone on both sides of America’s political battlelines drooled over Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. Disturbingly quickly, though, we’ve forgotten one of the key messages of the play: America’s partisan divides are nothing new, and they’re not some unprecedented issue. In fact, they’re a big part of what makes America work so well.
It’s become fashionable to lament America’s divided political climate. “Republicans And Democrats Don’t Agree, Or Like Each Other — And It’s Worse Than Ever,” screamed a 2017 headline from NPR. “Biden squandered his chance to lead a divided country,” Fox News said just last month. It’s tempting to blame the media, Facebook and Twitter, or any number of other modern ills for America’s divided politics. In reality, though, today’s divided, toxic political discourse is nothing new and has existed since long before broadcast TV and social media.
“The bastard brat of a Scotch peddler”
By historical standards, the political divides in American politics today can even seem quite tame. Remember that in 1804, Hamilton’s main political opponent openly shot him to death, which was totally legal (if a bit socially risky) at the time. And as the creator of today’s…
