The Core Of Contemporary American Conservatism

Ken O’Brien

Richard Hofstadter

There is a pronounced tendency to believe that the current gridlock in American politics is unique to our times.

Such a conviction is a vivid illustration of the truth of Santayana’s observation that “Those who cannot learn history are destined to repeat it”.

This November will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

It will also be the fiftieth anniversary of a lecture delivered at Oxford University by Richard Hofstadter.

While it is a reflection on recurrent historical trends in American political thought by those on the right, it speaks directly and with profound prescience to current circumstances.

I recommend it to those on the left and center of the current political spectrum as a means of understanding the genesis of current right wing hysteria.

GRIDBLOCK

Ken O'Brien

Gridlock is a term that appears to have originated in New York City in the 1970’s.

To quote from Wikipedia:

The term gridlock is defined as "A state of severe road congestion arising when continuous queues of vehicles block an entire network of intersecting streets, bringing traffic in all directions to a complete standstill; a traffic jam of this kind.” The term originates from a situation possible in a grid plan where intersections are blocked, preventing vehicles from either moving forwards through the intersection or backing up to an upstream intersection….

The traditional form of gridlock is caused by traffic heading in one direction across an intersection. This traffic is then stopped, by sometimes too much capacity for the roadway or an accident, blocking the intersection. The drivers in the other direction then go into the blocked intersection trying to get through. In many jurisdictions, drivers are prohibited from entering an intersection at a green light if there is no room for them to clear the intersection. If drivers follow this rule of the road, gridlock will be prevented and traffic will only be slow in the direction that is actually congested. One method of reducing gridlock is to aggressively enforce penalties for vehicles that block intersections.