Personally, I have really found the idea of political polarization in the 1960s to be something that today\u2019s climate is nearing (although I would argue that the American Right has become much more radicalized than the left). It feels like my entire life I\u2019ve been listening to my parents and those of their generation describe the present as times of unrest, of uncertainty, and of political divide; after hearing all those things said so many times, I\u2019ve come to think of them as just something that people say all the time. However, after reading in Vinen and discussing in class how the gap between left and right slowly widened towards the extremes, I\u2019ve come to question if, as has been discussed in class numerous times, we\u2019re living today in a modern 68. While tensions are certainly not to that height yet, I think it’s fair to say we\u2019re living in a time ripe with opportunity for change, and I think the growing political divide of the past years that I\u2019ve heard so much about has likely been a necessary precursor. Without the early 1960s you never could\u2019ve had the protests and the impact of 1968, and perhaps I should view the past 5-10 years of my life in a similar light and understand that there could be something special about this \u201cpolitical polarization\u201d I\u2019ve heard mentioned countless times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By drawing this comparison, it also helps me to use my personal experience as a political moderate to better understand the thought processes of the people of the late 1960s. I personally grew up in a very conservative household, so it is no surprise that I would\u2019ve considered myself a conservative (although not as conservative as my parents) as late as my high school years. However, as I\u2019ve watched the Republican party move farther and farther right, I\u2019ve felt alienated and have swung the other way, aligning much more with the American left than the right. Applying my experience in the reverse, I can understand how more moderate leftists in 1968 ended up swinging to the right as they sought alignment with a more moderate party that they felt represented them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Personally, I have really found the idea of political polarization in the 1960s to be something that today\u2019s climate is nearing (although I would argue that the American Right has become much more radicalized than the left). It feels like my entire life I\u2019ve been listening to my parents and those of their generation describe … <\/p>\n