Doris Kearns Goodwin: Partisanship Has Become Tribal and We Haven’t Seen that Since 19th Century

‘Maybe it was worse in the 1850s, but that ends up in the civil war’

EXCERPT:

KEARNS GOODWIN: "Well, it’s certainly unusual in my lifetime. You know, maybe it was worse in the 1850s, but that ends up in the Civil War, so we don’t want to think about that as a model. But something’s happened to our culture and our partisanship. I mean, Teddy Roosevelt warned that democracy would founder when people from different regions or parties or religions see each other as the other. And I think that’s happened in our country, it's happening in our political systems. I mean, it wasn’t so long ago when I was not so old where people in Washington saw each other as -- as human beings, that they played poker together, they had cocktails together and partisanship was not as hyper it is today; right now it’s become tribal. And we haven't seen that I think since the 19th century. And it's really troubling because it then is an example that is set to the country and then the country reflects that back to the party. And how we’re going to get out of it is very unclear except it’s going to take leaders to get us out of it and it's going to take an awakened citizenry.”

Video files
Full
Compact
Audio files
Full
Compact