I don't think I buy your fundamental premise: "This leads to a predictable divergence not only on political beliefs, but on which issues are covered at all. It is an emergent process by which parties separate into two separate realities."
The parties diverge at least equally if not more so over topics they both discuss regularly (covid, education, global warming, crime, taxation, etc.). Your perception that the two parties operate from effectively separate realities I sense is accurate, but the idea that this divergence arose as an emergent property of what issues they could discuss beneficially doesn't explain the majority of current divergence nor the polarization that has existed throughout history.
As for Democrats having more nuance on issues of race, and equivalently, Republicans on issues like national defense, that doesn't seem to be the case with the rise of cancel culture and the homogenization of political beliefs. Also, reparations aren't universally popular amongst African Americans, nor is defund the police. And time will tell if education's embrace of CRT will end up pushing even more African Americans and Latinos to change their voting patterns.
And while I appreciate the correlation in the meta-trend you propose, your argument suffers from a serious chicken-egg problem. The rise of the internet, social media, big data, cultural tribalism have all correlated as well over this time period, but separating cause and effect isn't anywhere nearly as clean as it seems like you're indicating.
All that said, I'm a big fan of noticing emergence in relation to these types of issues and I'll be curious to see your take on these ideas as they unfold.
I don't think I buy your fundamental premise: "This leads to a predictable divergence not only on political beliefs, but on which issues are covered at all. It is an emergent process by which parties separate into two separate realities."
The parties diverge at least equally if not more so over topics they both discuss regularly (covid, education, global warming, crime, taxation, etc.). Your perception that the two parties operate from effectively separate realities I sense is accurate, but the idea that this divergence arose as an emergent property of what issues they could discuss beneficially doesn't explain the majority of current divergence nor the polarization that has existed throughout history.
As for Democrats having more nuance on issues of race, and equivalently, Republicans on issues like national defense, that doesn't seem to be the case with the rise of cancel culture and the homogenization of political beliefs. Also, reparations aren't universally popular amongst African Americans, nor is defund the police. And time will tell if education's embrace of CRT will end up pushing even more African Americans and Latinos to change their voting patterns.
And while I appreciate the correlation in the meta-trend you propose, your argument suffers from a serious chicken-egg problem. The rise of the internet, social media, big data, cultural tribalism have all correlated as well over this time period, but separating cause and effect isn't anywhere nearly as clean as it seems like you're indicating.
All that said, I'm a big fan of noticing emergence in relation to these types of issues and I'll be curious to see your take on these ideas as they unfold.