Reply #42: Yes, the U.S. inherently tilts towards the right. [View All]

Our political philosophy is based on agrarian libertarianism, and Horatio Alger is our cherished myth. So while most voters agree with our specifics, they will usually agree with the broad outline drawn by the right. This has been made worse in an age dominated by media, with the ability to buy exposure, and now to even buy the reporting.

I can't think of a single president who ran, and won, on a the type of platform of economic and social liberalism that Kucinich is running on. Andrew Jackson comes to mind, but his populism was measured with liberal doses of know-nothingness that are much more along the lines of GOP policy. Lincoln was a social and economic progressive, but his 1860 election was due to electoral college mathematics unlikely to be replicated in our lifetime, and the economic battles were more sectional than in prior or more recent times. FDR was probably the closest, but 1932 was a very unique case in American history, and it's not my impression that FDR ran on social liberalism, even though his opponent ran on red-baiting among other things.