As election season swings into season around Elon University, a visitor from the opposite coast chose an apt time speak to students about the growing political divide in the United States.

Professor Doug McAdam from Stanford University visited Elon University on Monday evening to talk about the growing political divide in the United States legislature and the current threats to democracy in America that he discuses in his recently co-authored book, “Deeply Divided America: Racial Politics and Social Movements in the Post-War Era.”

“When former president Jimmy Carter said America no longer has a functioning democracy, people thought he was crazy,” McAdam said. “But when a former president says we are no longer a functioning democracy, we best pay attention.”

McAdam noted that political factions after World War II were more likely to pass legislation and agree to compromise on issues than political parties now. The two parties political views were more likely to be moderate, therefore they could discuss options in a more civil manner rather than pit each other against one another as they do now. He sited the Civil Rights Movement and the white backlash that followed as reasons to the ineffective nature of the current American democracy.

“The pressure the movement puts on the federal government is unrelenting,” McAdams said.

Each political party, the Democrats and Republicans, were relatively moderate on their viewpoints during post-war times, but as the Civil Rights Movement put more pressure on the parties to exact action, the Republicans became progressively more conservative and the Democrats became increasingly liberal, McAdam said.

“The political landscape in the United States has been transformed,” McAdam said.

McAdam presented evidence of legislative dysfunction by siting an increase in filibusters in the past 40 years (a method of halting voting on legislative bills) and the general lack of passing bills or legislative actions.

“This one is a doozy,” McAdam said.

Less than 300 legislative actions have been passed by congressional sessions in the last year whereas nearly 2,000 actions were passed in the years following the post-war period.

McAdam’s closed his speech by mentioning the declining level of political equality due to new restrictive voting lows and unfair voting advantages in parties due to gerrymandering.

“This may be the most systematic national effort to restrict voting rights,” McAdams said about the new voting laws. “We want students to vote in the state where their vote will count most, so why shouldn’t students be able to vote in the states they are essentially living in.”

McAdam made it clear that he was trying to be unbiased towards parties while giving this talk and that both parties were at fault for the decline of credible democracy in the nation.

“What makes it very different these days is that there is no cooperation between the parties,” McAdam said.

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology, the Department of Political Science and Policy Studies, The Turnage Family Faculty Innovation and Creativity Fund for the Study of Political Communication and the Council on Civic Engagement worked together to bring McAdam to campus to inform students about what the current American democracy resembles.

Roughly 60 students and professors attended the talk.

“It was interesting and informative,” sophomore Alyssa Potter said. “I think it raised some good points. I definitely didn’t know about the shift in democracy being that dramatic.”

McAdams urged students to take action in politics whenever possible.

“These threats are serious,” McAdam said. “They pose a real danger to our democratic way of life.”