Why We're Polarized

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2020

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Chapter 2

Chapters 3-4

Chapter 5-Interlude

Chapters 6-7

Chapters 8-9

Chapter 10-Afterword

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapter 10-AfterwordChapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 10 Summary: “Managing Polarization—and Ourselves”

Since polarization is here to stay, Klein recommends reforming the political system to function better given this reality. He cautions that he is more confident in his diagnosis of the political problem than he is in his prescriptions. He offers three systemic reforms. First, the system needs “bombproofing.” For example, he suggests that the debt ceiling should not be voted on separately from spending bills. That would prevent the Republican Party from using a looming financial catastrophe to win political advantage. Second, there is a need for balance. The founders balanced the powers of small and large states. While that division no longer resonates, the partisan one does. Both parties should have a voice in decision-making. Additionally, Klein suggests that the US Supreme Court should be restructured to represent balance between both political parties.

Thirdly, the system needs to be democratized. The electoral college should be abolished. While a constitutional amendment is unlikely, Klein highlights the possibility of the National Interstate Popular Vote Compact. The agreement commits states to cast their electoral votes for the popular vote winner. It needs more signatories to become binding but is more than 70% of the way to that goal. Klein additionally recommends a system of proportional representation for the House. Currently, votes only matter in swing districts, with most House districts not competitive. This change would make all votes matter. Klein also recommends that the filibuster in the Senate be eliminated and that the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have formal representation. Lastly, voting should be made easier. The alternative to these reforms is a looming crisis of legitimacy. By 2040, 70% of Americans will live in the largest 15 states and therefore be represented by only 30% of US Senators (257).

Klein additionally recommends that individuals begin to depolarize themselves. Citizens should be aware of their potential for manipulation by politicians and the media and take notice of which identities are activated. Too much attention is paid to national politics, with too little engagement with state and local politics. He cites the “reward from rooting more of our political identities in the places we live” (266). Specifically, politics are less polarized at the local level, with policy questions less symbolic and more pragmatic. There is also a greater opportunity to have an impact at the state and local level.

Klein concludes by emphasizing that there are no magic bullets to solve political problems, only corrections. He reminds the reader of the injustices in the American past, with racial minorities and women deprived of rights. There is no golden age to which to return, and therefore people must work to improve the system and recognize it as a work in progress.

Afterword Summary

Much has happened since this book was originally published in January 2020. President Trump’s handling of COVID-19, which featured high death counts, refusals to wear masks, and a recommendation to consume bleach, did not change many opinions of him. Klein did not anticipate quite that level of polarization and notes that “virtually no candidate, no information, no condition” can cause people to change their minds (270). The selection of Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee in 2020 did not surprise Klein. Moderate, conservative, and religious African Americans opted for Biden over Sanders, a fact that attests to the diversity of the Democratic coalition. Klein also points to the consistency of the Democratic House leadership and the behavior of Biden’s competitors as reasons for the presidential nomination, which demonstrated the Democrats’ support for traditional institutions and norms.

The closeness of the 2020 election in the electoral college despite a substantial Democratic advantage in the popular vote shows how the Republican Party is advantaged in the current system. Similarly, the Democrats are underrepresented in the Senate. Klein emphasizes that the problem is not polarization but the interaction between polarization and political institutions. In 2020, there was some depolarization with respect to race, as more white voters supported Democrats and more minorities supported Trump than did so in 2016. However, educational polarization, which Klein does not address in the original text, is increasingly important. Voters without a college education are receptive to populist candidates who take on the cultural and economic institutions from which they feel excluded. Because such voters are overrepresented in electorally important states, they have helped the Republican Party.

Given Trump’s claims of a stolen election, two thirds of Republicans believe that Trump won the 2020 election. Klein exposes the failure of Republican leadership on this issue. He then explains that a political party that is losing voters has two choices: It can reform itself to broaden its appeal, or it can turn against democracy. The Republican Party, he argues, has turned against democracy. While the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, failed, Klein highlights the successes of the assault on democracy at the state level. The question, then, is not whether the US will remain polarized but whether it will remain democratized.

Chapter 10-Afterword Analysis

Emphasizing that he is more confident in his analysis of polarization than his prescriptions to address it, Klein nonetheless offers some suggestions in his closing chapter. Given the Consequences of Polarization in the US System of Governance, he identifies that an obvious remedy would be to reform the governmental system. Because the US is not a democracy but a republic that governs via representatives, referendums on policy issues are not possible at the national level. The Constitution was designed to balance the interests of small and large states. As Klein notes, that division is not a relevant one today. Yet each state, regardless of its population, is represented by two Senators. This formula grossly overrepresents sparsely populated states, which tend to be Republican. In addition, the filibuster, which is operative only in the Senate, allows the minority party to defeat the majority’s agenda. To end a filibuster through cloture requires 60 votes, and it is unusual for the majority party to have that many votes. To solve this, Klein recommends abolishing the filibuster and adding representation for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, whose citizens currently lack a voice within the Senate.

Klein’s recommendations are not limited to the Senate, however, as some sparsely populated states are overrepresented in the House as well. However, the bigger problem in the House is gerrymandering, whereby geographical districts are intentionally created to protect the power of one party. Republicans, with control of key statehouses that create these maps, have been able to achieve an advantage in House contests. Uncompetitive districts additionally encourage polarization, as the representative does not have to win votes from the other party to stay in office. To fix this problem, Klein proposes a system of proportional representation. The allocation of seats to each party would then depend on the statewide vote, which could not be manipulated. This would encourage candidates to moderate their positions as well.

The electoral college, which determines the winner of the presidential election, reflects the biases of Senate and House representation. It therefore overrepresents sparsely populated states at the expense of densely populated ones. In so doing, it advantages the Republican Party. Since 2000, Democrats have lost the presidency twice despite winning the popular vote. In light of this, Klein recommends the abolition of the electoral college.

Finally, he calls upon individuals to engage in state and local politics and be aware of how politicians and the media can trigger partisan identity. While state and local politics are not immune to polarization, it is easier to find common ground among citizens who share a locale and who live, work, and worship alongside people of the other party. Even tenuous shared identities, such as geographical ones, thus leave room for cooperation and compromise.

Given the entrenchment of partisan identity, however, Klein’s advice is not likely to reach the masses or be accepted by a polarized public. Indeed, in his Afterword, Klein emphasizes how Partisan Identity Threatens Democracy. Despite the January 6 insurrection and Trump’s lies about winning the election, his support is strong. Two thirds of Republicans believe that Trump won in 2020. Noting the Differences Between Republicans and Democrats, Klein compares the moderate nominee in 2020—Joe Biden—to Trump. Biden was not the choice of the left but won the nomination with the support of African Americans in South Carolina, a fact that attests to the ideological diversity in the Democratic Party and its moderating effect.