Environmental activists have been painted as liberal extremists by conservative pundits and crusading underdogs by those on the left — reality, as usual, is somewhere in the middle, according to Gallup.

As the “green” movement continues to mature, those extreme portrayals are becoming largely outdated as mainstream culture comes to grips with the fact that environmental concerns are here to stay, and they must be addressed in ways that everyone can live with.

Demographics

Recent Gallup data on environmental issues provide some insight on the concerns of those who consider themselves “active” in the environmental movement versus those of other Americans.

A study conducted in March 2002 asked respondents,

“Do you think of yourself as an active participant in the environmental movement, sympathetic toward the environmental movement but not active, neutral, or unsympathetic toward the environmental movement?”

About half of all Americans (51%) put themselves in the “sympathetic” category, one-fourth (24%) classify themselves as “neutral” and only 5 percent say they are “unsympathetic” toward the environmental movement.

That leaves about one in five Americans (19%) who say they are “active participants” in the environmental movement.

Looked at another way, if 19 percent are activist environmentalists, and 51 percent are sympathetic to the movement, that means 70 percent of Americans support the environment.

That’s hardly outside the mainstream. In fact, a couple of survey researchers I studied under at the University of Alabama in the mid-1990s said support for a clean environment in the U.S. was as common as “mom and apple pie.”

So much for Rush Limbaugh and Karl Rove.

Also, according to Gallup, little difference is observed by subgroup when looking at those who say they are active participants.

For example, roughly the same percentages of men and women say they are active participants. The same holds for age groups from 18 to 64, and all education and income levels.

Even political ideology turns up little difference — 20 percent of liberals say they are active environmentalists, versus 18 percent of moderates and 19 percent of conservatives.

(Although there is an ideological tilt toward the left among the larger group of environmental “sympathizers”: 59% of liberals put themselves in that category, versus 54% of moderates and 45% of conservatives.)

According to a Capitol Poll survey from the Capitol Survey Research Center, the polling arm of the Alabama Education Association, 82 percent of respondents in Alabama favor legalizing and taxing gambling. Among voters for the Democratic Party, the number is 84 percent, while 83 percent of Independents support the idea and even 82 percent of Republicans do.

Getting from here to there would be difficult, but involves first a change in culture, which I believe is underway among ordinary people, culminating with profound changes in the Constitution to reflect Iroquoian consensus-based government.

Once before, America instituted a radical change in the ideological basis of government. It was not quite radical enough, in my opinion, and that has to do with the time, the place and the people involved. Now, at the distance of more than two centuries, we should be able to look at where we are now, and institute further changes to “perfect the union.”

It is no accident that governance in America has degenerated into an ongoing street fight between partisan gangs and special interest groups. That result comes directly from the culture of the country as it has developed over the last century. That fundamental flaw prevents good governance, no matter who is in charge and what their intentions may be.

The alternative, which might happen if conditions worsen to a continuing crisis, is some form of authoritarianism. Just because America has never had an Oliver Cromwell, a Juan Peron, an Antonio Salazar or a Francisco Franco does not mean we never will. Julius Caesar appeared to “rescue” the Roman Republic when it was falling apart in ways not dissimilar to our situation in the US today.

The genocide and marginalization of Native Americans has not only been heinous for them, it has deprived all of us of a vast store of wisdom and humanism that could be of tremendous benefit in the coming century and afterward. That’s not a Luddite call for a return to pre-industrial society, but a call to study and apply that wisdom to our current situation.

So far, political science continues what amounts to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titantic. A new direction, based on that timeless wisdom perhaps best expressed by the great Native American philosopher Black Elk, is in order.