Throughout American history there have been numerous events and moments in history that stand out above others as being more important, meaningful, and critical. One of those times for American politics and party politics is the decade of the 1960's. The 1960's was a critical era for American politics because it was during that time period that we saw the nationalization of parties, the opening of the party through primaries, the decline of parties was reconsidered as a change, and there was candidate centeredness through activists. But there was another decade, one more recent that many consider a critical era, and that is the 1990's.
To determine whether or not the 90's were a critical era there are some criteria that must be looked at. First off, one of the factors of a critical era is the presence of elite generational transitions. Is the new generation different from the last? Does the 90's meet this criteria? In my opinion yes it does. The era that started in the 90's was the Clinton era. This era was different from the Bush I era, which was basically an extension of the Reagan era. When Clinton was elected things changed. He was a younger, better looking, more dynamic candidate than the country had seen in years, and was much more charismatic than Bush ever was. Clinton represented the saxophone playing guy with the Fleetwood Mac theme song. He represented a different kind of politician that the country had not seen in years. So in this aspect there was a pretty big generational transition. The second factor of a critical era is public beliefs and actions. This area is a little harder to define, but again I feel that the 90's do fit this criteria. Bill Clinton was one of the most popular presidents in recent memory and therefore I conclude that during this time the public’s beliefs reflected the governments actions. The third criteria is a changing relation between the mass and the elites. I also feel that the 90's fit this criteria as well. During this time a lot of new and younger people started getting involved in politics again and slowly some of the old crustier politicians started to fade into the sunset. Bob Dole was a perfect example of that. Clinton still had that hip, younger guy feel to him when he ran again in ‘96.Therefore I believe that there was a changing between the elites of the time and the mass. The mass was getting tired of the old politicians, and the old policies and were ready for a new direction. That is partially the reason behind why the Republicans decided to reinvent themselves in the ‘90's and follow Newt Gingrich. They had to try to compete with the new wave of masses and try to modernize themselves, which they did to an extent. This lead them to a victory in the midterms of ‘94 and eventually to the presidency in 2000.
Based on the above criteria and my overall viewpoint, while the 90's were not quite as critical as the ‘60's, I still feel it was a critical era. A lot happened and a lot of opinions changed. Policies and attitudes were much different than they were in the ‘80's and I feel that the 90's was in fact a critical era.
1 comment:
I must agree, Clinton was a welcomed change to politics for many people. He was far more in touch with younger generations than any other president had been in a long time. I find that much of your argument hinges on this idea but I do not think this make the 1990's a critical era. To begin with Clinton was not the only president in the 1990's, to evaluate all of this time period we need to include Bush Sr., even if he is an extension of the Regan era of the 1980's. Beyond that we also need to look at the lasting changes. Yes, Clinton made politics seem hip and cool to a new generation of voters. But has that lasted? It could be argued either way. Many would say that G.W. Bush was the cooler candidate in both elections, but he did not appeal to the youth vote like Clinton did. Through your blog I am assuming that the argument you are getting at is that Clinton appealed to the young, voting constituency. I cannot agree that this alone makes the 1990's a critical era.
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