$yuval levin the fractured republic$

$yuval levin the fractured republic$

We're a much more diverse society, a more dynamic society.

$yuval levin the fractured republic$

The America that came out of the second world war and The Depression was an extraordinarily cohesive, consolidated society with amazing faith in large institutions.Īnd really what's happened since almost that moment is a kind of fragmenting, breaking down of those large institutions. In a sense, the way America has changed since that 20th century period that both liberals and conservatives miss so much is that it's fragmented. SIEGEL: The big problem that you say has gone unaddressed in this age of nostalgia is a hollowing out or a bifurcation of America, which you say is something different or more complex than the rise of economic inequality. Or if you listen to Ted Cruz, every sentence is a kind of regurgitation of not just Reagan's principles but Reagan's actual agenda from 35 years ago. Pittsburgh doesn't even really want steel back anymore. Donald Trump goes to Pittsburgh and says he's going to bring steel back. LEVIN: You know, you hear Hillary Clinton - for example, when she's asked about college protests, her immediate instinct is to say, I'm from the 1960s I know what college protests are like and are about. SIEGEL: When you think of (laughter) - when you think of political arguments that are that kind of nostalgia, what stands out most for you? But they're both telling nostalgic stories, and the two parties have put before the country, one election after another, that seem like a choice between going back to 1965 or 1981. But liberals tend to miss the especially economic arrangements but also the kind of social liberalization of the 1960s. In a sense, they are both forms of a kind of baby boomer nostalgia.

$yuval levin the fractured republic$

SIEGEL: When you speak of liberal and conservative nostalgia, you should explain that it's not for the very same time and the very same things. Yuval Levin, who is the editor of National Affairs, is the author of the new book 'The Fractured Republic' joins us now. He says, American liberals and conservatives are both inspired by nostalgia from mid-20th-century America, and they are mired in hopeless efforts to go back rather than focus on the future. And here's an interesting one from the conservative political theorist Yuval Levin. But just how we are divided and why it's proved so hard to get past our differences are questions that admit to many answers. The fact that Americans are politically divided is self-evident from recent elections.

$yuval levin the fractured republic$

Yuval levin the fractured republic