Why are the Dem's and Rep's so polarized? <my title>

Keith T. Poole, Cambridge University Press. ^ | unknown | Keith T. Poole

[mad puppy]

...snip...

Foreign Born vs. Polarization -- r = .92. The percent foreign born are from the U.S. Census. The basic idea is that immigrants tend to come in at the lower end of the income/wealth distribution. Hence, the more foreign born there are, the more inequality of income/wealth.

[mad puppy]

The web page has a very interesting set of graphs regarding the polorization of the major political parties in this country. It is the very last graphic that I found interesting. I'll not say any more under the "we report, you decide" clause.

These links are where I started...

http://www.voteview.com/recentpolitics.htm

http://www.voteview.com/Spatial_Models_of_Parliamentary_Voting.htm

[mad puppy]

ping

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"They started it!"

[thoughtomator]

The Dems are polarized. The rest of us are not.

[HMFIC]

REPUBS= OPTIMISM

LIBTURDS= ANTI-American Pessimism

[pissant]

The pubbies aren't polarized. Bush is running the country fairly well and the sissies in the quisling party are crying like little girls.

[Pompah]

Are you suggesting that we "Take-A-Dem-to-Lunch" today.??

Furgetaboutit.

[RushCrush]

[Major Matt Mason]

Because the liberals always want things their way, since they are morally and intellectually superior to the rest of us bumpkins. The Republican party was only too happy to go along to get along until the conservatives started to assert themselves in the party, then on the national stage. Now, the liberals don't always get their way (although they still get too much for my tastes), and they are throwing daily hissy fits as a result.

So, until liberals accept their current lot (which will never happen), and as long as conservatives fight for their principles, there wil be friction between the two parties. Personally, I would rather see friction than moderates dragging this country to the left.

[roaddog727]

Perhaps because a preponderance of the DEMs are bi-polar?

[lilylangtree]

demoncRATS have run rough-shod over its citizenry for decades with lies and deceit. When pubbies get a spine and decide to fight the injustice, then the citzenry gets treated to the issue of "polarization--the whys and wherefores."

[LS]

The problem with any, but especially RECENT, measures of "inequality" is that they tend to include only cash measures, and in the last 30 years increasingly Americans have had a growing share of their incomes in "benefits." If you account for the cash value of benefits, in fact, inequality has remained constant for 100 years, more or less.

[LS]

Not only that, Matt, but Madison WANTED this kind of friction (he called parties "factions") because the "factions" led to competition that produced better ideas and better government, just as competition produces better products in business.

[mad puppy]

Has anyone gone and looked at the chart yet?

[mad puppy]

Gross! NO.

I have a running debate with a co-worker on all things political. We went to lunch a couple weeks ago and took his car.... {tearful sob...} and he... had a Kerry sticker on his car....

I felt so dirty.

[mad puppy]

I guess the thing that struck me about all of this was the direct relationship between the number of foreign born people in this country and the "friction" between the parties.

Apparently my fellow Freepers knew this already. I didn't, though it does make sense. Pretty much explains the open border policies of the Dems, relative to the Reps.

[sweetiepiezer]

"had a Kerry sticker on his car.... "

I would have walked.

[LS]

Except that all foreign-born don't vote alike. Asians vote more GOP, Hispanics slightly Dem, eastern Euros heavily Republican.

[bayourod]

Which portion of the article analyzes foreign born?