Newt Gingrich

I don't like the guy.  I generally don't have much distaste for specific politicians but he is on my short list.  

Newt Gingrich was the leader of the conservative revolution in the House during the 90s.  Why does that make me dislike him?  The revolution brought about legislative tactics that (according to Walter Oleszek) "increasingly have sought to structure floor action to publicize partisan messages" and Newt was one of the most vociferous voices of partisanship.

The house and then the senate became more polarized.  During the 60s there were 196 "moderates" in the house and 45 in the senate.  It dropped to 63 in the house and 10 in the senate (45% to about 10% in both houses of congress).  Much of this was because of the conservative revolution, a youth revolution.  

The 90s was a time of change for the house.  There was the fresh-faced Gang of Seven that came in and shook things up, and with this came more youth and bipartisanship.  Why is this relevant?  Much of this can be traced back to Newt Gingrich as the leader of this group ideology.  In fact, Republican Congressmen who served with Gingrich and were part of his youth movement were 63% more likely than other Congressmen to be more of a polarizing conservative.  

I you couldn't tell, I hate partisanship and polarization.   I am an independent and proud of it.  I do not affiliate with either party on an official basis anymore, though I do vote.  I am moderate in my views and I feel as a Generation Y-er, that the era of partisanship has forgotten about me.  It’s funny to say, but there IS too much politics in politics.  Good legislation is often stalled because of partisanship factors.  That is no way to run a country.

My  big problem with polarization? Historically, mudslinging is not far behind.  Polarization and mudslinging go so much hand in hand that it is hard to tell them apart.  It’s disingenuous to my intelligence to use hate filled vitriol to make a point.  An ad hominem is "a personal insult and logical fallacy that denigrates ones point and has no place in rational debate".  Judge for yourself if this is one (statement by Gingrich):

"The secular-socialist machine represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did."

Gingrich has been one of the biggest users of these kinds of statements throughout his career and his influence has led to an influx of these.   Everything the guy says is disingenuous (when asked about cheating on his wives he responded it was because of too much patriotism).  


Gingrich is very much to blame for our current mudslinging and polarizing politics and without him and his influence, blow hards championing the birther movement like Trump would not be considered legitimate candidates.