The Powerless Silent Majority
By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK I first heard the term “silent majority” used to describe the coalition of Americans with traditional values that was mobilized to elect Richard Nixon back in the late 1960s. It was a concept that I always thought fit well with Willmoore Kendall’s understanding of the “deliberate sense of the community,” the broad electoral consensus that would prevail over the long run in the American political system. It is what made the United States an exceptional country, in Kendall’s eyes. I am a great admirer of Kendall’s work. But I have a question: Why isn’t the consensus he described able to exert itself any longer on the great issues of the day? The polls tell us that…Continue Reading