Politics of dissatisfaction.

• Author: Bresler, Robert J.

EVEN IN THE BEST of times, Americans rarely are reluctant to express their dissatisfaction with the state of the country. In the halcyon years of the late 1950s, commissions, foundations, and pundits decried the lack of a national purpose. They considered the Eisenhower years a period of drift--a flaccid era compared to the resolute 1940s. During the 1960s, urban riots assumed a greater reality than the economic prosperity that simply was taken for granted. During the boom years of the 1980s, the media was rife with stories about the decade of greed, selfish yuppies, and the sleaze in Washington.

Contemporary America seems more ill at ease with itself than it was in the past. In some ways, this is perplexing. The Cold War is over; the terrifying nuclear arms race has ended; America achieved a startlingly easy military victory in the Gulf War; medical technology and more intelligent habits of living are allowing many to live far into their retirement years; the air and water are cleaner than they have been in decades; more Americans are in the upper middle classes than ever before; the traditional barriers against women and minorities in professional schools and the workplace have been swept away; and the degree of cultural freedom of expression would amaza (and perhaps horrify) our grandparents.

The current sense of dissatisfaction, however, can not be ascribed to the spoiled and dyspeptic nature of a pampered public. The U.S. is in the midst of far-reaching change that is hard to articulate or comprehend. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of communism have robbed Americans of a common purpose; the decline of the traditional family has weakened their moorings; children are raised in a confused and permissive moral climate without a clear sense of limits; the defense industry in in decline, throwing thousands of skilled professionals out of work; large corporations such as IBM, Sears, and General Motors are fighting for their lives and no longer can offer their employees lifetime security; and the inner cities never have been more dangerous.

The 1990s are unfolding as a dispirited decade that provides fertile ground for the politics of anger and resentment. The persistent support for Ross Perot goes far beyond a lack of enthusiasm for George Bush and now Bill Clinton; the election of independent non-political businessmen as the mayors of Jersey City and Los Angeles was a sharp repudiation of traditional liberal urban politicians...