Science Fair Project Encyclopedia Origins and polarization The
expression gained wide use with the publication in 1991 of
Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America by James Davison
Hunter . In that book, he described the dramatic polarized re-
alignment that had transformed American politics. The term
echoes the German Kulturkampf. The observation is that on an
increasing number of "hot-button" defining issues — abortion,
gun control, separation of church and state, privacy,
homosexuality, censorship — there are two definable polarities
in American culture. These are not defined by their nominal
religion or even by their political affiliation , but rather by
an ideological world view. See also culture war speech During
the same period, paleoconservative commentator Patrick J.
Buchanan mounted a campaign for the Republican nomination for
President of the United States against incumbent George H. Bush
in 1992, mostly based on Bush's decision to raise taxes after
the latter's famous pledge, "Read my lips, no n