The Culture Wars Will Never End

The truth is that the culture war defines American politics and always has. Whether it’s characterized as country vs. city or North vs. South or conservative vs. liberal, our culture is always at war with itself. It’s foolish to ever believe that conservatives are going to stop being conservative or liberals are going to stop being liberals. Our political identities are as much about our cultural and social affinities as they are about our philosophies of government. (In fact, our philosophies of government are almost entirely informed by our social and cultural identities.) And liberals should be fine with that. The culture war may be a very long one, but over time, they are winning. In America progress always wins in the long run. But it’s never easy. And it ain’t over til it’s over.
Heather Digby Parton, also known as "Digby," is a contributing writer to Salon. She was the winner of the 2014 Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism.