本文探讨了历史上党派之争的演变，以美国为例，分析了不同时期党派之间的团结与极化现象。文章指出，在20世纪40年代，美国政治科学协会呼吁党派更加鲜明，以提供明确的选择。然而，在南北战争时期，党派之间的极化程度却非常高，甚至出现了暴力冲突。

🤔 在20世纪40年代，美国政治科学协会呼吁党派更加鲜明，以提供明确的选择。当时，人们普遍认为政治辩论缺乏意义，选举也变得平淡无奇。协会认为，党派应该代表不同的政治理念，让选民能够做出清晰的判断。这体现了人们对党派之间更强烈的分化和更清晰的政治立场的一种渴望。

⚔️ 南北战争时期，党派之间的极化程度非常高，甚至出现了暴力冲突。例如，1856年，南卡罗来纳州众议员普雷斯顿·布鲁克斯在参议院议事厅用棍棒殴打了马萨诸塞州参议员查尔斯·萨姆纳。这只是众多暴力事件中的一个例子。在1842年，田纳西州众议员托马斯·阿诺德因批评一位支持奴隶制的议员而遭到两名南方民主党人的威胁，他们甚至准备用刀攻击阿诺德。当时，国会中几乎每个人都携带武器，暴力冲突随时可能发生。

📊 通过对历史事件的分析，我们可以看到，党派之间的团结与极化是历史上的一个反复出现的主题。在不同的历史时期，人们对党派的态度也会发生变化，有时希望党派更加团结，有时又希望党派更加鲜明。理解这种历史趋势，有助于我们更好地理解当今的政治格局。

Link: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/09/04/list-of-passages-i-highlighted-in-my-copy-of-ages-of-discord/

 

Turchin has some great stories about unity vs. polarization over time. For example in the 1940s, unity became such a “problem” that concerned citizens demanded more partisanship:

Concerned about electoral torpor and meaningless political debate, the American Political Science Association in 1946 appointed a committee to examine the role of parties in the American system. Four years later, the committee published a lengthy (and alarmed) report calling for the return of ideologically distinct and powerful political parties. Parties ought to stand for distinct sets of politics, the political scientists urged. Voters should be presented with clear choices.

I have vague memories of similar demands in the early ’90s; everyone was complaining that the parties were exactly the same and the “elites” were rigging things to make sure we didn’t have any real choices.

On the other hand, partisanship during the Civil War was pretty intense:

Another indicator of growing intraelite conflict was the increasing incidence of violence and threatened violence in Congress, which reached a peak during the 1850s. The brutal caning that Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina gave to Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts on the Senate floor in 1856 is the best known such episode, but it was not the only one. In 1842, after Representative Thomas Arnold of Tennessee “reprimanded a pro-slavery member of his own party, two Southern Democrats stalked towards him, at least of one of whom was arhmed with a bowie knife…calling Arnold a ‘damned coward,’ his angry colleagues threatened to cut his throat ‘from ear to ear'” (Freeman 2011). According to Senator Hammond, “The only persons who do not have a revolver and a knife are those who have two revolvers” (quoted in Potter 1976:389). During a debate in 1850, Senator Henry Foote of Mississippi pulled a pistol on Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri (Freeman 2011).

In another bitter debate, a New York congressman inadvertently dropped a pistol (it fell out of his pocket), and this almost precipitated a general shootout on the floor of Congress (Potter 1976: 389).