“Politicians who spark a culture war for the sake of their own power are playing with fire, and journalists who exploit a culture war for the sake of its unleashed furies are throwing gasoline on the flames. At the beginning of the presidential election contest, that is history’s warning to America…

The phrase “culture war” comes from “Kulturkampf.” That word was coined in the 1870s when Germany’s George W. Bush, Otto von Bismarck, launched a “values” campaign as a way of shoring up his political power. Distracting from issues of war and economic stress, the “Kulturkampf” ran from 1871 to about 1887. Bismarck’s strategy was to unite his base by inciting hatred of those who were not part of it…” —James Carroll, Boston Globe op-ed