| ID | 090681 |
| Title Proper | Longing, nostalgia, and golden age politics |
| Other Title Information | the American jeremiad and the power of the past |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Murphy, Andrew R |
| Publication | 2009. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | I assess several politically powerful ways of drawing on the past in the search for solutions to problems in the present. To probe these dynamics, I turn to the American jeremiad, a longstanding form of political rhetoric that explicitly invokes the past and laments the nation's falling-away from its virtuous foundations. I begin by focusing on the Christian Right's traditionalist jeremiad, which offers both nostalgic and Golden Age rhetoric in its assessment of the United States' imperiled national promise. I argue that, despite differences in the historical location of their ideals and the significant rhetorical power that they bring to political life, such nostalgic and Golden Age narratives represent a constraining political ideal, one ultimately incapable of doing justice to an increasingly diverse American society. I argue furthermore that there is another strand of the American jeremiad and conclude by sketching a different way of drawing on the past, a progressive jeremiad epitomized by the thought of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Such a jeremiad is also deeply rooted in the American tradition and offers a far more promising contribution to a diverse and pluralistic American future. |
| `In' analytical Note | Perspectives on Politics Vol. 7, No. 1; Mar 2009: p.125-141 |
| Journal Source | Perspectives on Politics Vol. 7, No. 1; Mar 2009: p.125-141 |
| Key Words | Golden Age Politics ; American Jeremiad ; Nostalgia ; Golden Age Rhetoric ; United States ; American Future ; America |