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The Atlantic

The Atlantic

America Is Now the Divided Republic the Framers Feared

The Atlantic
Summary
Nutrition label

60% Informative

Julian Zelizer : George Washington warned against hyper-partisanship in his farewell address.

He says the Founders feared a permanent majority with a permanent minority would lead to authoritarianism.

Zelizer says the threat today is new and different because the two parties are now truly distinct.

Washington : America has now become that dreaded divided republic.

Frida Ghitis: America has a genuine two -party system with no overlap, the development the Framers feared most.

She says nationalization of politics, geographical-cultural partisan split, and consistently close elections have reinforced one another, pushing both parties into top-down leadership, enforcing party discipline, and destroying cross-partisan deal making.

Ghitis says neither side has a chance of becoming the dominant party in the near future.

In this case, the future of American democracy depends on heeding the warning of the past. The country must break the binary hyper-partisanship so at odds with its governing institutions, and so dangerous for self-governance. It must become a multiparty democracy..

VR Score

77

Informative language

82

Neutral language

57

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

67

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

detected

Time-value

medium-lived

External references

no external sources

Source diversity

no sources