The American Culture Wars, Rise of the New Right, and the Return of History

The Overton window is shifting.

In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule.” ~Nietzche

The sands of politics and culture are in a constant state of flux. When Barack Obama came out in favor of legalizing gay marriage during his 2012 campaign, many onlookers were shocked.

“Count me stunned that President Obama came out in favor of same-sex marriage after years of straddling and waffling. I was among those who said he would (a) stay on the fence through the election, uncomfortable though that might be, because (b) there’s more political downside than upside in bringing the issue forward and taking a stand that still alienates many swing voters (only 16 years after President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, signed the anti-gay marriage Defense of Marriage Act).”

(Jonathan Rauch, Brookings Institute, May 9, 2012)

A mere twelve years later, gay marriage is considered a non-issue. In fact, I imagine that if a United States candidate for public office (on either side of the aisle) even brought up the possibility of a reversal, he would instantly lose his shot at the election.

We understand that culture, that is, the general atmosphere, the mood of the times, works symbiotically with politics. As the zeitgeist shifts, so does political opinion and, more importantly than opinion, actual policy. This concept is known as the Overton window. The Overton window is the range of policies or opinions politically acceptable to the mainstream population at a given time; it is also known as the window of discourse.

I chose gay marriage because it is the clearest example of an idea or policy that went from being considered “radical” to a clear policy in the last decade, but if we zoom out to the scale of world history, we can see many things that have entered and exited the Overton window. Just 200 years ago in the U.S., slavery was popular and policy, now not only out of the Overton window but unthinkable. Dueling was considered the “honorable” way to defend one’s reputation. Less than 100 years ago, racial segregation was considered “ethical” and the norm. If we go really far back, we see things like auto de fe’s, human sacrifice, and a whole host of other ideas we consider obsene today. Things change.

Now there is a notion, common in the west (largely because it has been true), that at least since the end of WWII and the beginning of the so-called “international rules-based order,"  "things,” that is, society, culture, ethics, and our surroundings, have and will continue to trend upward. Now we know historically that the chart of human progress, though it trends upward, contains a considerable amount of troughs. Consider that directly after the fastest upward period of human flourishment (Enlightenment and Industrialization), we were plunged into the two most polarizing and deadly wars in human history. Things can go uphill and downhill pretty fast.

Overall, the post-World War II world has been stable, safe, and reliably trending towards “open societies." Japan demilitarized. The United Nations was formed. The European Union was formed. Israel made peace with half of its neighbors. The communist Soviet Union collapsed. China opened up and globalized its economy. Latin America is relatively stable. The polarization of the world on extremist ideologies (e.g., fascism/nationalism vs. Marxism/internationalism) largely fell away. Things looked great.

Living in America, it can sometimes be hard to assess the true nature of events or trends occurring worldwide. To some of the more geopolitically minded among my readers, it will come as no surprise that much of Europe has seen a marked rise in right-wing nationalism and EU skepticism. Much of this shift is rightly chalked up to being a backlash to both the large self-imposed EU migrant crisis that started in the 2000s as well as the perceived threat of “leftist values” and "globalism." Here is where things get interesting, and the culture wars begin.

The Culture Wars

(Culture Wars are inherently controversial; I will try to use the least divisive language and will not use any names of political leaders or factions.)

First, what do we mean by the term “culture wars”? A culture war is a form of group or tribal conflict where the argument is about what society should look like, what sort of ethics it should embody, and what ethos it should stand for. America was founded, upheld, and fought for a certain type of society. That society was democratic in the political sense, liberal in the classical sense, and capitalist in the economic sense. In a very real way, we won; the U.S. was (and in many ways still is) the global superpower.

Culturally, though, something broke. Somewhere in the 2010s, there began a pushback to American exceptionalism and "values." First among the left-wing, we saw an increasing discomfort with perceived gender and race issues, leading to once radical ideas such as transgender and sexualism, gender fluidity, and critical race theory entering the mainstream and leading to actual policy change. Obviously, a pushback ensued. The U.S., which has generally been a non-nationalistic country, started leaning into nationalistic ideals and isolationist policies. The right wing began preaching about the perceived secular “corruption” of society, loss of morality, and threat to national identity. The days of laissez-faire globalization and melting pot multiculturalism in the U.S. were declared over.

It seems to me that both the Russo-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars have revealed a deeply embedded Christian, nationalist, and isolationist sentiment in the U.S. Returning to the Overton window, there used to be broad-based support among both the right and left wing for a) fighting (proxy) wars against the Soviet Union and Russia and b) supporting Israel against terrorism. Both of these are now leaving the Overton window, and a much more dangerous precedent is reasserting itself.

Let us use Tucker Carlson (12.8 million on X, 1.96 million on YouTube) as an example of the 180-degree shift within right-wing ideology. Tucker was the face of the most popular show on the most popular right-wing television network in America throughout the 2010s. His talking points were the classic right-wing neocon fare: he supported Bush’s Middle East wars and supported Israel. He has since been let go of that position but still commands a fairly large following online. His current ideology and talking points mostly hover around the moral corruption of the U.S. and the need to bring back “values” (whatever that generic word is supposed to mean). Additionally, he has become hostile to the US policy of foreign military support and intervention, including in Israel, and now champions an “America First” agenda. He makes remarks about the Zionist special interest groups “controlling our politicians” and generally is keen on bashing the elites in entertainment, media, and finance (hint: all Jews), and talks about how Christianity is not respected enough in the west.

You may agree or disagree with some or all of his sentiments, I am not here to persuade anyone politically. What is clear to me is a marked shift in right wing political circles, a place that felt surprisingly comfortable to most Orthodox Jews for quite some time, a return to a “real” American Christian nationalism becoming mainstream, something that has not existed in this country for quite some time. This raises questions for us as a Jewish community living outside the state of Israel, maybe some uncomfortable ones. As a reminder, we haven’t fared great when countries decided to take their nationalism seriously.

When I started writing online, my plan was to stay out of politics, and for good reason. For some reason, humans have a very hard time having rational discussions about politics. It becomes the adult version of the color war, except there are no real winners and both teams usually end up unhappy. The Europeans at least get parliamentary elections, where you can choose a more nuanced party to fit your tastes; here in the U.S., it truly becomes Red Team vs. Blue Team. Alas politics make a difference, who gets to wield the constitutionally given power of our federal and state governments matters. It is sometimes lost to memory that the Nationalist Socialist Party of Germany (Nazis) was duly elected by the German people in a democratic election. There is a feeling among many that I feel as well that 2024 has marked the return of History. So, I plan on continuing to write my political takes and hope they spark some calm, rational discussions about the political future of the U.S.¹

1. I hope this essay does not come off as too pessimistic, I am trying to look at the political landscape in a cold, realpolitik sort of way. I am actually quite optimistic in the future of the U.S., at least for the next 1-200 years ;)