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Is the clash of civilizations we need to be worried about here at home, between Red and Blue America? Perhaps, says David von Drehle, in this fascinating Washington Post piece. Among several interesting demographic and historical observations, is the thesis that Republicans and Democrats are choosing to live in increasingly politically segregated communities and districts, and subsequently find ourselves operating in increasingly parallel universes, reinforced in our separate world views by selecting the niche media that filters out the "cognitive dissonance" of opposing views:
More and more Americans in a highly mobile society are choosing to live among like-minded people. University of Maryland political demographer James Gimpel has documented the rise of a "patchwork nation," in which political like attracts like, and ideologically diverse communities are giving way to same-thinking islands. A recent analysis sponsored by the Austin American-Statesman, comparing the photo-finish elections of 1976 and 2000, made this clear. While the nationwide results were extremely close, nearly twice as many voters now live in counties where one candidate or the other won by a landslide. Person by person, family by family, America is engaging in voluntary political segregation.
Bush and Kerry embody the role of mobility and personal choices in creating the Red-Blue nation. Two Establishment scions, similar in background and education, who parted ways after being at Yale University together, one headed to Red country and the other to Blue. Millions of voters have now made similar choices, which in turn echo and reinforce their initial beliefs and preferences...
After graduation, however, their paths diverged. Bush left New England to live in Midland, Tex. He entered the oil business -- in which extracting resources was valued above conservation, regulation was seen as an affront to enterprise and everything depended on the readiness of bold men to take big risks. Texas was part of the Wild West, the Old Confederacy and the Bible Belt.
In short, Bush immersed himself in a Red sea. Greenberg, author of "The Two Americas: Our Current Political Deadlock and How to Break It," recently summed up the essence of that world.
"Faith in God and faith in entrepreneurs," Greenberg said. "The idea that faith should inform our public space, and that absolutes, rooted in the Bible, should guide us in our public life. The idea that America should be strong in promoting freedom and in control of our own destiny. Texas is actually a lot more complicated than that -- but not where Bush lives."
When Bush extols "entrepreneurs," insists on tax cutting and deregulation, and promotes drilling and logging; when he professes a born-again faith and appeals to traditional norms on issues such as marriage and cloning; when he disdains intellectual subtleties in favor of plain-spoken verities, he is carrying the flag for Red America.
Kerry went another way. After winning medals in Vietnam, he launched into the culturally progressive, antiwar politics of the East Coast. In Kerry's world, liberal values were worth paying for with higher taxes. There was less talk about celebrating entrepreneurs than about reining in "corporate interests." Kerry's Boston milieu was Yankee North and ivory tower, a magnet for the young and the wealthy, many of whom saw urban life as a model of multicultural America.
Worth reading. I will leave the political analysis to others more expert in the field, at the links on the left side of the site.