Editing Newt Gingrich (section)

=== Role in political polarization ===
A number of scholars have credited Gingrich with playing a key role in undermining democratic norms in the United States, and hastening political polarization and partisan prejudice.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/thomas-e-mann/its-even-worse-than-it-looks/9780465096206/ |title=It's Even Worse Than It Looks |last1=Mann |first1=Thomas |last2=Ornstein |first2=Norman |publisher=Basic Books |year=2016 |isbn=9780465096206 |access-date=October 6, 2018 |archive-date=October 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006235446/https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/thomas-e-mann/its-even-worse-than-it-looks/9780465096206/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":3b">{{cite book |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562246/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt/9781524762933/ |title=How Democracies Die |first1=Steven |last1=Levitsky |first2=Daniel |last2=Ziblatt |publisher=Penguin / RandomHouse |access-date=October 6, 2018 |archive-date=December 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211150321/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562246/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt/9781524762933/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":9">{{cite book |url=http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/American-Amnesia/Jacob-S-Hacker/9781451667837 |title=American Amnesia |last1=Hacker |first1=Jacob |last2=Pierson |first2=Paul |date=February 14, 2017 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9781451667837 |access-date=October 6, 2018 |archive-date=November 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118185320/http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/American-Amnesia/Jacob-S-Hacker/9781451667837 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{cite book |last1=Buhl |first1=Geoffrey W. |last2=Frisch |first2=Scott A. |last3=Kelly |first3=Sean Q. |article=Appropriations to the Extreme: Partisanship and the Power of the Purse |year=2013 |title=Politics to the Extreme |pages=3–21 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |doi=10.1057/9781137312761_1 |isbn=9781137361424}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dodd |first1=Lawrence C. |last2=Schraufnagel |first2=Scot |article=Taking Incivility Seriously |year=2013 |title=Politics to the Extreme |pages=71–91 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |doi=10.1057/9781137312761_4 |isbn=9781137361424}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{cite book |last=Harris |first=Douglas B. |article=Let's Play Hardball |year=2013 |title=Politics to the Extreme |pages=93–115 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |doi=10.1057/9781137312761_5 |isbn=9781137361424}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{cite news |url=https://columbialawreview.org/content/asymmetric-constitutional-hardball/ |title=Asymmetric constitutional hardball |publisher=Columbia Law |work=Columbia Law Review |access-date=October 8, 2018 |archive-date=January 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119095233/https://columbialawreview.org/content/asymmetric-constitutional-hardball/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":8">{{cite book |title=Red Fighting Blue |last=Hopkins |first=David A. |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108123594 |location=Cambridge |pages=156–157, 158–162 |doi=10.1017/9781108123594}}</ref><ref name=":10" /> According to Harvard University political scientists [[Daniel Ziblatt]] and [[Steven Levitsky]], Gingrich's speakership had a profound and lasting impact on American politics and health of American democracy. They argue that Gingrich instilled a "combative" approach in the Republican Party, where hateful language and hyper-partisanship became commonplace, and where democratic norms were abandoned. Gingrich frequently questioned the patriotism of Democrats, called them corrupt, compared them to [[fascists]], and accused them of wanting to destroy the United States. Gingrich furthermore oversaw several major government shutdowns.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/145916/democracy-dies-donald-trump-contempt-for-american-political-institutions |title=How a Democracy Dies |magazine=[[The New Republic]] |access-date=April 12, 2018 |archive-date=December 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211105538/https://newrepublic.com/article/145916/democracy-dies-donald-trump-contempt-for-american-political-institutions |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/01/22/579670528/how-democracies-die-authors-say-trump-is-a-symptom-of-deeper-problems |title=''How Democracies Die'' authors say Trump is a symptom of 'deeper problems' |publisher=[[NPR]]|access-date=April 12, 2018 |archive-date=December 8, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208011203/https://www.npr.org/2018/01/22/579670528/how-democracies-die-authors-say-trump-is-a-symptom-of-deeper-problems |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/01/the-rising-pressures-on-american-democracy/ |title=The rising pressures on American democracy |date=January 29, 2018 |newspaper=Harvard Gazette |access-date=April 12, 2018 |archive-date=November 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130201624/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/01/the-rising-pressures-on-american-democracy/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":3" />

[[University of Maryland]] political scientist Lilliana Mason identified Gingrich's instructions to Republicans to use words such as "betray, bizarre, decay, destroy, devour, greed, lie, pathetic, radical, selfish, shame, sick, steal, and traitors" about Democrats as an example of a breach in social norms and exacerbation of partisan prejudice.<ref name=":0" /> Gingrich is a key figure in the 2017 book ''The Polarizers'' by Colgate University political scientist Sam Rosenfeld about the American political system's shift to polarization and gridlock.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo24660595.html|title=The Polarizers|last=Rosenfeld|first=Sam|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=2017|access-date=October 6, 2018|archive-date=November 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115061143/https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo24660595.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Rosenfeld describes Gingrich as follows, "For Gingrich, responsible party principles were paramount... From the outset, he viewed the congressional minority party's role in terms akin to those found in parliamentary systems, prioritizing drawing stark programmatic contrasts over engaging the majority party as junior participants in governance."<ref name=":1" />

Boston College political scientist David Hopkins writes that Gingrich helped to nationalize American politics in a way where Democratic politicians on the state and local level were increasingly tied to the national Democratic party and President Clinton. Hopkins notes that Gingrich's view<ref name=":8" />

<blockquote>directly contradicted the conventional wisdom of politics... that parties in a two-party system achieve increasing electoral success as they move closer to the ideological center... Gingrich and his allies believed that an organized effort to intensify the ideological contrast between the congressional parties would allow the Republicans to make electoral inroads in the South. They worked energetically to tie individual Democratic incumbents to the party's more liberal national leadership while simultaneously raising highly charged cultural issues in Congress, such as proposed constitutional amendments to allow prayer in public schools and to ban the burning of the American flag, on which conservative positions were widely popular – especially among southern voters. </blockquote>

Gingrich's view was however vindicated with the Republican Party's success in the 1994 U.S. midterm elections, sometimes referred to as the "Gingrich Revolution."<ref name=":8" /> Hopkins writes, "More than any speaker before or since, Gingrich had become both the strategic architect and public face of his party."<ref name=":8" /> One consequence of the increasing nationalization of politics was that moderate Republican incumbents in blue states were left more vulnerable to electoral defeat.<ref name=":8" />

According to University of Texas political scientist Sean M. Theriault, Gingrich had a profound influence on other Republican lawmakers, in particular those who served with him in the House, as they adopted his obstructionist tactics.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-gingrich-senators-9780199307456?cc=is&lang=en&#|title=The Gingrich Senators: The Roots of Partisan Warfare in Congress|last=Theriault|first=Sean M.|date=May 23, 2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199307456|location=Oxford, New York|access-date=October 6, 2018|archive-date=November 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122012735/https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-gingrich-senators-9780199307456?cc=is&lang=en&|url-status=live}}</ref> A 2011 study by Theriault and Duke University political scientist [[David W. Rohde]] in the ''Journal of Politics'' found that "almost the entire growth in Senate party polarization since the early 1970s can be accounted for by Republican senators who previously served in the House after 1978" when Gingrich was first elected to the House.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Theriault|first1=Sean M.|last2=Rohde|first2=David W.|s2cid=31052699|date=2011|title=The Gingrich Senators and Party Polarization in the U.S. Senate|journal=The Journal of Politics|volume=73|issue=4|pages=1011–1024|doi=10.1017/s0022381611000752|issn=0022-3816}}</ref>

Gingrich consolidated power in the Speaker's office.<ref name=":6" /> Gingrich elevated junior and more ideologically extreme House members to powerful committees, such as the Appropriations Committee, which over time led to the obliteration of internal norms in the committees.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Lee|first=Frances E.|date=May 11, 2015|title=How Party Polarization Affects Governance|journal=Annual Review of Political Science|volume=18|issue=1|pages=261–282|doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-072012-113747|doi-access=free |issn=1094-2939}}</ref> Term limits were also imposed on committee chairs, which prevented Republican chairs from developing a power base separate from the Republican Party.<ref name=":5" /> As a result, the power of Gingrich was strengthened and there was an increase in conformity among Republican congresspeople.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Aldrich|first1=John H.|last2=Rohde|first2=David W.|date=February 2000|title=The Republican Revolution and the House Appropriations Committee|journal=The Journal of Politics|volume=62|issue=1|pages=1–33|doi=10.1111/0022-3816.00001|s2cid=154995219|issn=0022-3816}}</ref>