Ask the Expert: Michael Tanner on the 2000 US Presidential Election

André Hillenbrand, a student in grade 13 at Elsa-Brändström Gymnasium Munich, Germany, asks:

"Can the 2000 US Presidential election be seen as the end of the ''Holiday from history'', an event that began to divide what was beforehand a very unified and stable nation? Is the US still feeling its effects?"

Michael Tanner, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, answers:

While the 2000 presidential election was uncharacteristically close, that was more probably the result of a unique political situation (relative peace and prosperity brought about by a deeply flawed president) than its being itself the source of national division. In fact, to the degree that the 2000 election reflected deep splits in the country, those splits had been ongoing for 35 or more years.

As my Cato colleague Brink Lindsey pointed out in his book, Age of Abundance, the widespread material prosperity that followed World War II gave rise to conflicts over culture and morals. The well-spring of those conflicts was the 1960's, giving rise to debates over all manner of value-related issues. The sexual revolution, civil rights movement, women's movement, the War in Vietnam, and Watergate all challenged the traditional mores of the American heartland.

In one way or another, those cultural and moral debates continued to split the country well into the current century. The red/blue split reflected in the close Bush/Gore election was largely a reflection of cultural divisions rather than a fight over economic policy. George Bush never campaigned as a fiscal conservative, but he reflected the small-town, Middle American values that predominated in red states.

However, as the 1960s generation fades from the scene, those battles may finally be fading as well. Barack Obama is the first post-baby-boomer president. Despite vocal minorities in opposition, the country is muddling towards a rough consensus on issues such as gay marriage and abortion. The economic crisis is bringing issues of the size and role of government back to the forefront of the political debate. In that sense, perhaps the 2000 election can be seen not as the beginning of a divided America, but as the beginning of the end of the divisions that began in the 1960s.