Throughout their history almost long 250 yearsThe United States of America have passed through Two civil wars: the first, fought Between 1775 and 1783coincided with the American independence war; the second, known as Secession warwas fought Between 1861 and 1865 Among the unionists (also called “Nordisti”) and confederates (also called “southerners”). Currently, after decades of profound political, social and cultural divisions, worrying signs of polarization and political radicalization are emerging, as well as numerous demographic changes, which feed the fear of a possible new internal conflict. Hundreds of the United States cities were held against the administration of President Donald Trump on June 14th, all gathered under the motto No Kings (“No to kings”).
American society is changing: demographic trends
The modern American society, born thanks to the colonization and toimmigration From beyond Ocean, the prototype of the so -called phenomenon is often considered “Melting Pot”that is, a set of individuals of the most disparate origins that coexist in the same territory, forming a multi -ethnic society which, however, has always coexisted with the phenomenon of “racism” which has manifested itself with different degrees of intensity throughout the American history.
From a demographic, racial and sociological-cultural point of view, the load-bearing pillar of the American-phaese system are the so-called “Non -Hispanic whites” (“Non-Hispanic Whites“, In English) who have always constituted the absolute majority of the population if compared with the African Americansi nativeThe Asian and, more recently, the Hispanic (the so -called “Latinos“).
However, the changes in migratory flows and in fertility rates have over time eroded what was once the granite numerical superiority of the “whites” which, if in 1940 they were the89.8% of the American population, in 2020 Although obviously they grew up in absolute numbers, they had fallen to 57.8% (32 percentage points less).
This epochal transformation should not be underestimated, because history teaches that no geopolitical entity of the past has ever survived its original form once what the Anglo -Saxons call happens “Demographic and Cultural Shift”, That is, the change of a country’s demographic and cultural paradigm. The temporally closer example in this sense is made up of collapse of the Soviet system in the three -year period 1989-1991. According to the data of the last Soviet census dated 1989 In fact, i “Ethnic Russians” that is, the nationality around which it had been built “The Empire” they had reduced to the 50.8-51.4% of the total, therefore they were on the threshold of losing the absolute majority.
Political polarization in the USA
The demographic changes irreparably cause fierce debates When not real Destabilizing riots. Exactly as in the Soviet Union the demographic dynamics, changed during the 1980s of the twentieth century, were the catalyst of the whole clashes and of the “Perestroika” of Gorbachëv, so in the United States demographic changes, together with the so -called “Cultural wars”are contributing to the polarization process in the political field, pushing people to Align yourself more and more rigidly to one part (for example, progressive vs conservatives), increasing the distance between the two political poles and reducing the area of civil or compromise comparison.
Also the phenomenon of Political and cultural polarization In the United States it developed during a long time span. Its deeper roots they can be traced in the 70s, when one manifested one Conservative counter-culture in reaction to the profound social and value changes introduced by the movement of ’68 and the phenomenon of “Children of flowers“. This reaction took shape as an answer to what was perceived by a part of American society as an excess of liberalism, permissive and breakage with traditional values.
In any case, according to the authoritative Pew Research CenterIn the 2022 The members of the two main American political parties (Democrats and Republicans) which have a negative vision of their counterparts are more than doubled than the 1994while a survey of the 2017 Of Facebook He stated that the Internet users belonging to opposite political sides had no longer any type of common interest.
The most dangerous aspect of this phenomenon was highlighted by another survey, this time of the Gallupdated 2025 who certified the progressive disappearance of the moderate element, once perfectly transversal and dominant between the two political sides. Among the democratic voters, in fact, 55% identified “liberal”, 34% “moderate” and 9% “conservative” while among the republican voters, 4% identified as “liberal”, 18% “moderate” and 77% “conservative”. In all Only 34% of Americans were perceived as “politically moderate”the lowest value ever since statistical surveys exist.
These are dangerous indices because they certify that the “polarization” pure and simple has given way to “Radicalization”and according to some interpretations, when a society radicalizes risks starting towards forms of fragmentation or social disintegrationeven if the results are not necessarily predetermined and can vary according to the context and the conflict management tools.
The “Trumpian” mortgage on the future
The new election to the White House of President Trump will hardly lead to a turnaround: he has earned the almost messianic loyalty of the most extremist elements among the conservatives of the Republican Party. Both his policies and his simple statements, always rigorously marked by the most extreme populist styleespecially in terms of immigration and denunciation of their “political rivals” are unable to create connection points among the details of a society like the American one.
A reason worry For many, especially among American progressives, it is the fear that Trump wants to abolish the limit of the two presidential mandates for stay in power for life. In parallel, it is feared that it can follow the proposals of the “Project 2025” Of “The Heritage Foundation”, A plan that aims to concentrate even more the powers of the president, putting the system of”Weights and counterweights“On which the Constitution of the United States is based. Considering the strong libertarian tradition of American society and the climate of growing radicalization, it seems difficult to imagine that this authoritarian drift is accepted without opposition.
