No, today’s culture warriors are more reminiscent of another famous type in recent American politics: the Angry White Male. This was the archetype of the political force that rocked Bill Clinton’s presidency during the 1994 congressional midterm elections, in which Republicans took control of the House of Representatives and Senate. The catchphrase was based on the huge shift by white men to the Republican column in that election; just 39% voted for Democratic House candidates that year, a 10-point dip from the 1992 election. The anger was something more intangible, but also quite real: storm clouds of bile filling the conservative talk radio airwaves. Most memorably, perhaps, in the autumn of 1994, the Watergate-conspirator-turned-talk-radio-host G Gordon Liddy advised a listener worried about intrusions by federal agents to “shoot for the head”. Read the rest of this entry »