Is the country still moving to the right, or have we finally made a turn to the left ?

[steve2470]

I'm hoping President Obama's re-election signals a move to the left.

[WCGreen]

1. I think we are in a holding pattern to be honest...

It all depends on what happens in 2014 and 2016...

We could go either way.

[steve2470]

2. good point, yes nt

[IDoMath]

3. I agree. We may have slowed the rightward march

but I don't think it's stopped. We certainly aren't moving left yet.

[BlueDemKev]

5. I agree.

[agent46]

4. I think the momentum

I think the momentum is still very much to the right. Obama has taken a stand on a few social issues such as gay marriage, women's rights in the workplace and other problems that don't really impact or address the aggressive corporatist foreign policies and corporate friendly domestic posture of his administration.

The outcome of this new gun debate will be interesting. Will it bring in greater law and order measures across the states? Will it serve to further polarize an already propaganda sick public? The gun control debate could bring us more to the right with greater police powers and a new surveillance state "normal" to protect us from the bad people. It all depends on who gets to frame the debate. The right-wing has been pretty good at that at least since the eighties. The Left not so much.

[blkmusclmachine]

6. They'll find a way to go Right.

They always do.

[Mel Content]

7. president obama's caving on the fiscal cliff signals a continued rightward course.

money talks,
progressives walk.

[MrSlayer]

8. Um, no. We NEVER move to the left.

We're moving to the right at a slower pace is all. Watch how we get fucked in the coming "grand bargain" or whatever they decide to call it.

Imagine if we acted as if we won the election. Imagine if the elected people actually gave a shit what we wanted instead of the owners. All you can do is imagine it because it is never going to happen.

[CBHagman]

9. I don't think anything is that neatly definable.

There are too many factors involved -- political affiliation (generally slightly more than one-third Democratic, about one-third Republican, one-third independent), the 24/7 news cycle and the influence of social media, demographics, immigration, and a lot more.

I think the influence of the media, with its overuse of polls and its tendency towards employing cognitive distortions, skews people's view of reality.