What's Going On

In this 2004 interview with PBS's Bill Moyers, Thomas Frank discusses his take on the distinct differences in voting and political issues of voters in the recent years. He believes that America has been voting on the basis of cultural issues instead of economic issues. Topics such as abortion and religion have driven the divide of voters in places like Kansas, which he describes in his book as traditionally a center for populist movement. He goes on to say that Democrats have dialed back there pushing of regulation in buisness, such as Clintons passing of NAFTA and the Telecommunications Act. Because of less focus on economic issues and more on cultural, Democrats, he says, have lost ground in lower and middle class areas in the midwest, plains and south where people hold cultural views more associated with conservative and Republican standpoints. Fast foward to today, and we can see through the lens of this economic recession how Baack Obama has used this issue as a lynchpin in his election. Obama's concentration of middle-class and lower income issues have seemed to speak to the younger generation, now being referred to as "the Millenials" or in this video generation We. If this video does sum us up as a generation; economic, enviornmental, and other issues aside from the cultural issues which have been important since the culture wars of the 1960's will begin to trump the issue Frank addresses in his interview.