Sean Wilentz: Historian takes long view on conservative swing
These are not the best of times for liberals, but Princeton University historian Sean Wilentz cautions those pessimists who fear that conservatives are about to make good on their crusade to erase more than half a century of progressive reforms that date back to FDR's New Deal.
Wilentz, who is director of Princeton's Program in American Studies, agrees that President Bush has had more success in turning back the liberal agendas of the past than previous conservative Republican presidents, including Ronald Reagan.
That success, he says, is being measured by Bush's ability to name two new Supreme Court justices, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, who give him an apparent 5-4 majority of justices who share his conservative views on hot-button issues such as abortion rights, same-sex marriage, school prayer and presidential powers.
If conservative Republicans continue to win national elections, Wilentz said, they could not only score more victories in America's cultural wars but drastically overhaul many of the social programs that people take for granted.
But Wilentz takes the long view of a historian who not only has charted the course of American history for two decades in his courses at Princeton but also in a widely praised new book, "The Rise of American Democracy."
Yes, he agrees, the conservatives are winning at the moment. "But that can change very quickly," he says. "All it takes is one election. If the Democrats win one house of Congress in November, the picture can change dramatically.
"All of a sudden, they will be able to hold investigative hearings to challenge the administration. So long as the Republicans control the Congress, the presidency and the judiciary, (the Democrats) are powerless.
"That was clear in the Senate confirmation hearings over Sam Alito. The Republicans had the votes. The Democrats did a lot of crying in public, but the fact is that when George Bush was re-elected to a second term, it was almost certain that he was going to get at least two new seats on the Supreme Court.
"And when he ran for re-election, he was very public about what kind of justice he would nominate -- justices like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas." ...
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Wilentz, who is director of Princeton's Program in American Studies, agrees that President Bush has had more success in turning back the liberal agendas of the past than previous conservative Republican presidents, including Ronald Reagan.
That success, he says, is being measured by Bush's ability to name two new Supreme Court justices, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, who give him an apparent 5-4 majority of justices who share his conservative views on hot-button issues such as abortion rights, same-sex marriage, school prayer and presidential powers.
If conservative Republicans continue to win national elections, Wilentz said, they could not only score more victories in America's cultural wars but drastically overhaul many of the social programs that people take for granted.
But Wilentz takes the long view of a historian who not only has charted the course of American history for two decades in his courses at Princeton but also in a widely praised new book, "The Rise of American Democracy."
Yes, he agrees, the conservatives are winning at the moment. "But that can change very quickly," he says. "All it takes is one election. If the Democrats win one house of Congress in November, the picture can change dramatically.
"All of a sudden, they will be able to hold investigative hearings to challenge the administration. So long as the Republicans control the Congress, the presidency and the judiciary, (the Democrats) are powerless.
"That was clear in the Senate confirmation hearings over Sam Alito. The Republicans had the votes. The Democrats did a lot of crying in public, but the fact is that when George Bush was re-elected to a second term, it was almost certain that he was going to get at least two new seats on the Supreme Court.
"And when he ran for re-election, he was very public about what kind of justice he would nominate -- justices like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas." ...