Culture vs. Politics
Timothy Sullivan
in Journalism, Media, Non-fiction, Writing
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Perhaps the best essay I read in the run-up to the election of President Barack Obama was "The Triumph of Culture over Politics" by Lee Siegel in The Wall Street Journal. It was a masterful job of synthesizing a lot of complicated campaign undercurrents. "Liberals always think that there is something broken in politics," wrote Siegel. "Conservatives always think that there is something wrong with the culture."
There are aspects of this essay that are moot now that the Democrats have racked up a convincing national victory and, in hindsight, it's easy to say Siegel gave the Republicans too much credit, but his theme is still ripe for debate. Here's a sample: "Liberals segregate culture from ordinary existence. They will 'do' culture and then 'do' the rest of life -- gaze at a Vermeer, say, and then work on finding the perfect daycare center. But for conservatives, raising children, using the discipline of faith to endure illness or setback, cherishing life at its conception are cultural tasks and values inseparable from the challenges of everyday living."
Check it out if you've got 20 minutes to spare.
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