American democracy in the late twentieth century: Political rhetorics and mass media

Abstract

The population of the United States is composed of a vast mix of multi? ethnic, religious, racial, class and status groupings and congeries. At the level of competitive economic interests, it is divided by region, industry, foreign or domestic investment and trade, labor and management, stock and commodity markets, advantages or disadvantages to be accrued by inflationary or deflation? ary prices, and by claims on the federal budget made by the defense industry, welfare agencies, agriculture, highway construction and a multitude of other spe? cial interests. The nation as a whole is divided and subdivided into thousands and thousands of groups and interests, all in competitive struggles with each other. Given this social, economic and political heterogeneity, the fabric of the nation as a moral community is stretched to the limits of its elasticity. The differentiation of American society into units that frequently cut across and through distinctions of race, religion, class and economic position leaves little or no way to formulate universal political appeals. Appeals tailored to meet the claims of specific groups are likely to alienate other groups who have other interests. There would appear to be no single set of political symbols that can embrace and simultaneously appeal to the social, economic, political, ethnic, racial and religious diversity of the population. This ideological deficien? cy poses a political dilemma for contemporary American democracy; and it is the solution to this dilemma that distinguishes the political character of the late 20th century American democracy from its earlier versions. While older 18th and 19th century religious and political ideals and ideologies continue to be a source of supply for the motifs of late 20th century political rhetorics, they are exploited by information technologists and managers, political specialists possessing rational mastery of the means of