"Is the culture war over or what?" asks a beaming Andrew Sullivan in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine, before taking readers on a tour of our "post-Lewinsky," Will & Grace age. This almost-anything-goes climate, the former New Republic editor argues, has made finger-wagging ideologues -- and their decades-long war for America's soul -- laughably obsolete. So lighten up, America.
Television is already down with the new world order: Characters that once provoked boycotts -- working single moms, gays and lesbians, sexually active teenagers -- raise ratings, not eyebrows.
As for politics, anyone who sat through the stupefying banality of George W. Bush's inauguration speech will find the argument persuasive. Gone are the firebrands of yesteryear, replaced by a cuddly Bush administration that wears its bleeding heart on its sleeve. Last year's Republican Convention was fairly dripping with cultural sensitivity -- no feisty Pat Buchanans on hand to ruin the good vibes this time around.
What happened? According to Sullivan, we simply got tired. "When the culture war is framed in apocalyptic terms -- homosexuals want to destroy the country! -- Republicans want to jail thousands of pregnant women! -- it takes real zeal to keep upping the ante." And he concludes that today's more sophisticated electorate, through its choice of George W. Bush, has sent a message to politicians that it is ready to compromise on the details. Never mind that the popular vote was won not by the genial, easygoing Dubya, but by would-be populist crusader Al Gore. Or that the election debacle that followed exposed a mistrust and bitterness so deeply engrained that Bush felt compelled to devote his transition to "healing" it.
Sullivan not only underestimates the profound ideological gulf still dividing left and right; he fails to grasp the irrelevance of his own argument. The culture wars as we knew them are over, and there is no question who won. But fundamentalist zeal is as strong and organized as ever -- less confrontational, but also more sophisticated. The battle has shifted from the streets -- with Seattle a minor but notable exception -- and into think tanks, school board elections, and ballot propositions. Yesterday's picketer is today's well- financed lobbyist. Is it any wonder that radical politics have entered the mainstream with such a vengeance?
Of course, both sides have benefited -- consider the number and visibility of gays and lesbians in elected office. But for every Barney Frank elected, a viciously homophobic measure like Nebraska's Initiative 416 becomes law. And among liberals, the public relations victories of the last few years have bred complacency, and obscured a very real threat. Because vocal or not, the foot soldiers on the other side of the culture wars are still armed to the teeth.
Take abortion. In a recent Salon article, Alicia Montgomery points out that a survey of the nation's college freshmen by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute showed a drop in the number of incoming students who identified as pro-choice, from 64.9 percent in 1990, to 52.7 percent in 1999. Why such a sharp decrease, nearly a decade since the last mass clinic demonstrations, and with Supreme Court challenges to Roe v.Wade a fading memory? Montgomery argues that in the intervening years pro-life groups have shifted their focus from public protest to youth outreach:
"The American Life League, a group that claims to represent 360,000 families and opposes all abortions and even some forms of contraception, has an annual budget of more than $6 million and devotes roughly a third of its resources to youth outreach. Two of its seven divisions focus on young people: Rock for Life helps young pro-life activists spread their message through music, and Why Life? sends representatives to speak to school-age kids about the pro-life perspective."
But despite mounting statistical evidence that the effort is working, pro-choice advocates simply have not kept up. Aside from the occasional rally or youth conference, Montgomery notes a complacency towards youth education among major women's and reproductive rights groups that borders on indifference. And Sullivan, ever in tune with the zeitgeist, echoes dismissively, "the younger generation, having grown up in a world where sex, drugs, gays and hip-hop are banal, cannot be expected to fight a battle they do not even understand."
With so little effort expended on reaching out to young women, it's no surprise that Planned Parenthood, for example, has seen its membership steadily rise in age -- according to Montgomery, "from the mid- to late 40s to the early 50s" -- while pro-life groups have experienced the opposite phenomenon. Add to this alarming statistic the growing number of Catholic hospital mergers that, in turn, won't offer their patients family planning services, not to mention the slippery-slope assaults on RU-486 and emergency contraception, and Sullivan's claim, that "abortion will stay legal in this country for the foreseeable future" begins to sound hollow.
But wait, it gets worse. With Republicans ascendant, the mainstreaming of right-wing politics is only going to accelerate. And the man leading this covert attack is the same one Andrew Sullivan praises for his "discomfort with sharp ideological differences" -- George W. Bush. Sure, we always knew that compassionate conservative bit was a red herring, but Dubya has been so cozy with the right since he took office that even religious nuts like Paul Weyrich -- the man responsible for the phrase "moral majority" -- are flattered by the attention. "I've been through five Republican administrations, and the effort to communicate with conservatives and to understand our concerns and address our concerns and involve us in the process is the best of any of the Republican administrations," Weyrich drools, "including Ronald Reagan. In fact, far superior to Ronald Reagan."
The Office of Faith-Based Initiatives is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. In a disturbing New York Times article, Robin Toner exposes the depth to which the culture war veterans -- and their young protégés -- are involved in all levels of the administration, from weekly power-lunches, to staff appointments:
"The impact of this conservative ascendancy is clear on policy and staffing. The first few months have seen a string of victories for what [Americans for Tax Reform president Grover] Norquist calls the 'center-right coalition' from reversing the administration's position on regulating carbon dioxide, to rolling back the new Labor Department rules aimed at preventing repetitive stress syndrome, to imposing a new ban on federal aid to international family planning groups that counsel or promote abortions. The conservative influence is felt not only on the major cabinet-level appointments, like Attorney General John Ashcroft and Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao, but also the lower-tier jobs that are now being filled."
And Family Research Council's Kenneth L. Connor adds "We are afforded access to the highest senior officials."
Who needs the culture wars when the President's shaking your hand?
The right already knows what works: Walk softly and suck up to Dubya. They can afford to be civil. But Andrew Sullivan fully expects liberals to accept this trojan horse, just because the family values crowd has toned down its swagger. And as reassurance he offers . . . John Ashcroft. "Here is the most pro-life politician in America promising to enforce abortion rights as attorney general for his full term in office," Sullivan writes, "What clearer example could we have of the new cultural settlement?"
Hear that, weary liberals? Put down your weapons and join the big Texas barbecue.
