Gas Lines mid-1970s









Hummer-limos

A Sixty Party System?
The Voter
  • Democrats retain the majority of those expressing party preferences, but largest category of self-description is "Independent"
  • Tighter two-party control of the electoral process minimizes political impact of "independents."
  • Voter participation in decline, paticularly traditional Democratic base
  • Those voting disproportionately "conservative".

Dominant Concerns
Political Party.  Republican
Section: The "Sun Belt"
Economic base: petrochemical, "defense"
Ideology: corporate mysticism, "Cowboy Capitalism," resurgent Fundamentalism.
Domestic policy: government easing business effort to maximize immediate profits
Foreign policy: "national security" defined in terms of international business interests

Major issues unaddressed: environmental and energy issues, older agendas of race, gender and class.

Oppositional ideologies: technocratic, libertarian, environmentalist..