Political Perils of a 'Big Sort'?

Passionate partisanship is causing Americans to self-segregate into lifestyle ghettos.

By Robert J. Samuelson | Newsweek Web Exclusive

Aug 6, 2008 | Updated: 10:41 a.m. ET Aug 6, 2008

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Posted By: Mr.Gomez @ 09/14/2008 11:50:35 AM

Comment: Only when we can start balancing the emotionalism and the intellectualism in America will
be have true "cohesion". I am fortunate to live in a VERY small town, where there are million dollar homes next to mobile homes. It is a great place to live! Our town government is ALL volunteer and is made up
of all walks of life. We have a great community! We have building guidelines that are equal to all.
As long as you follow the community planning ordinance, build what you want.
We're not reliant on city water, city sewar etc. When I come home I am happy to come home.
Not because everyone thinks the way I do, but because we all value the same sunrise and sunset.
LIVE FREE OR DIE!
Posted By: Keith in PA @ 09/09/2008 7:55:49 AM

Comment: Palin also grew up in the Pentacostal church where she spoke in tongues. Her church promotes coverting jews into christians and gays into straights. She rails against spending but her record shows her running up public debt. She cut funding for unwed teenage mothers. She claims that her preacher has prophetic powers. She supported the "bridge to nowhere" and she took the money even though the bridge was killed by congress. She supports the corrupt Senator Stephens. She's way outside the mainstream of American politics.
Posted By: jbritt @ 08/08/2008 9:50:33 AM

Comment: loudowsonjr, I have a computer, several in fact, and I do not know that 9/11 was an inside job. Rather than posting unrelated nonsense on this news discussion board, why don't you just turn off your computer and go smoke a bowl and eat some 'cheetos' with your best friend, Judy Wood.
Posted By: loudowsonjr @ 08/07/2008 3:49:17 PM

Comment: I would like to know, why no one covering the news is reporting the truth about 9/11. Any person who has a computer, knows that 9/11 was a inside job. If we are ever to be a united nation, we must be told the truth, by those who report the news. The way things are now, few if, any really trust what we read in the news papers, or what we hear on television.
Posted By: loudowsonjr @ 08/07/2008 3:46:23 PM

Comment: I would like to know, why no one covering the news is reporting the truth about 9/11. Any person who has a computer, knows that 9/11 was a inside job. If we are ever to be a united nation, we must be told the truth, by those who report the news. The way things are now, few if, any really trust what we read in the news papers, or what we hear on television.
Posted By: okie3 @ 08/07/2008 8:43:19 AM

Comment: In Texas it's call gerrymeandering, that's when a Replican controlled legislature draws little lines up one street and down another to make sure all the blacks are in one precinct.
Posted By: DoctorJazz @ 08/07/2008 2:40:42 AM

Comment: Well, you can count me in on this. I used to think that conservatism was another legitimate viewpoint and something that honorable men could disagree about. After the last 8 poisonous years, it's clear to me that there can be only two kinds of Republicans left. There are evil Republicans and there are willfully ignorant Republicans. Both types disgust me. They have destroyed my beautiful country and I don't want to spend any more time around them than I absolutely have to.
Posted By: C. MacLean @ 08/06/2008 10:59:17 PM

Comment: As far as I can see, America has always self-segregated into lifestyle ghettos, it's just that the geographic borders are smaller than they used to be. Initially, we had two basic divisions; federalists vs states rights folks. That morphed into north vs south. If memory serves, we even fought a war of north against south - some folks are still fighting it.

For a while we had east - the establishment - vs. west - the frontier. There was gold vs. silver, farmers vs city people. Immigrants vs. people who were born here - some folks are still fighting that battle, too.

In short, the divisions have always been there - at first they were ideological divisions, then they became geographic divisions.

As the geography gets smaller - from regions to states to counties - the electoral college becomes more outdated.

This article firms up the case for going with a popular vote, rather than the obsolete electoral college. And now that senators are voted on by popular vote, rather than by state legistative bodies, one could argue that we no longer need two houses of congress, either - one ought to be able to get the job done.
Posted By: thehappyamerican @ 08/06/2008 7:18:47 PM

Comment: Portland, Oregon!
At the Obama Show here , I went Portlands' nice zoo, passed that assembly and knew my zoo trip was going to be great! Obama was like a mothlight to all the wierdows, streeties,pamphleteers, gays, pan handlers, druggies, and everyone I'd rather not see at the zoo.
I have heard reports that the Obama organizers put the portable rest rooms on a memorial to the fallen Police Officers who died protecting the peace... but can't confirm that. Though the memorial is real and immediatly in the area of the Obama Show.
Please Obama! Bring you Rocking Rolling act here again only somewhere far from memorials to good men and women. Bring back the Pied Piper show of shows! Clean up Portland, Oregon, if even for a few hours!
Thanks to you my zoo visit was awesome!
Posted By: jgundrey @ 08/06/2008 7:11:52 PM

Comment: You can point fingers back and forth with all the mind-numbing ad hominem attacks you want (mostly by the conservative side). But face the reality - the American experiment is coming to an end. We're going to see states get redder and bluer until the disparity turns us into two different nations within a nation. Some states will outlaw abortion while others will always assure its availability. Some will permit gay marriage while others will never allow it. We'll have polar opposites in everything from gun laws to public assistance programs to drug laws to civil rights laws - you name it. Merely crossing a state border could instantly cost you rights or as quickly make you a criminal.

Since there are no constitutional provisions for secession we're going to see the country devolve into two federal republics - separated by political philosophy rather than geography - with two different interpretations of the same constitution.
- Posted By: LIKEITIS @ 08/07/2008 12:04:01 PM
  
  Comment: ACTUALLY, MY STATE, TEXAS IS THE ONLY STATE TO STILL ENJOY THAT PRIVLIGE............BY A SINPLE VOTE OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE, TEXAS IS ABLE TO SECEDE...............YOU THINK IT WILL HAPPEN?
Posted By: bluegrass101 @ 08/06/2008 7:07:38 PM

Comment: How come the poorest states like Ala, Ga, Missi,Louisiana, Tenn, , and also the most Obese, the most uneducated vote for the Repig Party. I'll tell you why, it's because they will always, for the most part be brainwashed by the Foaming Mouth's of the Far Right Talking heads and the Screwball Evangelicals.
Posted By: dale rutherford @ 08/06/2008 7:03:03 PM

Comment: As I read the posts responding to this article, one of the funnier themes is how accurate stereotypes are reflected (in this case not race; but by political preference). The liberal posts are mostly far left, barely able to contain the self importance that conservatives place under a microscope nightly on propaganda fests such as Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, and the rest.

Meanwhile the conservative posters fulfill their stereotypes including the inability to much of anything other than bash liberal point of view and repeat the republican media talking points. I have news for you conservatives; your party aint conservative. When conservatives stop pushing religion into state run institutions (public schools, etc), stop pushing freedom crushing laws such at the Patriot act, stop pretending that the republican party stays out of the business of US citizens, and most definetly stops hammering democrats as tax/spend enimies of the state while bankrupting the country with cut tax and spend policies.

No one listens; everyone talks. I love this country for what it achieved; but it is slipping away from us. As a country you cant spend 20+ years in political gridlock or political activism and expect a balanced budget, money that is worth more than the paper it is printed on, security and opportunity for all.

There is a tipping point and the United States is on the peak.

You know, shut the hole! To quote: ???Ask not what your country can do for you .. and get off your butts, shut your mouths, and do something for your country.???
Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 08/06/2008 7:01:53 PM

Comment: It points to the total failure of ''diversity'',something no-one really wants at the heart of the ''Big Sort''.Bishop is right. Homogenized ideologies tout ''diversity''so long as it fits within their partisan mores. I see gay bars openly operating in Oklahoma City. I see few to no rightist conservative evangelical churches in San Francisco. I see writers[including Dickey,whose relative was the author of ''Deliverance''],waxing eloquent on the ''New South''. I also see raging bigotry no differant than that which was practiced in the old White Citizens Councils being performed on one American campus after another. Several of these,in regions of the nation that espouse ''tolerance''and ''diversity''.[including the new tactic of ''tolerance'',firebombing,such as that which is being endured by scientists at UC Santa Cruz by leftwinged Luddites at the present time]. People point at the ''other''not realizing as they look around,that their peers are cookie-cutter wearers of fashion,listerners of music,readers of books,bearing the same political and social ideologies as their own. One side asks ''if you are against abortion,then why don't you want to take care of the baby after it is born''? The other asks,''If you are such a champion of minority rights,then why are you not living on the Southside beyond the railroad tracks rather than in safe suburbs and wealthy neighborhoods''? It goes on and on,contributing to the ideological segregation. ''I hate guns''[except when my bodyguards are packing heat]. ''I am against global warming''[except when I fly on LEAR jets,and drive SUVs].''Jesus Saves''[except when I am raking in enough loot to build twenty mansions]. ''I am against gay rights''[except when I engage in sordid park bathroom affairs]. The Age of the Internet was to be the great leavener. Instead,it performs its share to contribute to the Age of the Big Sort acting no differant than tradtional,increasingly partisan[''Big Sorts'' of their own],media,which is more problem creator,than problem solver,fitting neatly with the presentday form of government as practiced in Washington.
Posted By: bluegrass101 @ 08/06/2008 6:59:27 PM

Comment: One thing the Repig's will never do and that is to vote for anyone with a drop of Black, Oriental, or any Race that is not their own. That is why I do not understand people like Joe Watkins , Ron Cristie, or any Black Politician who thinks they are accepted in the Repig Party. I know how they talk about Blacks behind their backs.
- Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 08/07/2008 11:52:02 AM
  
  Comment: No you do not. Take Ed Steele for instance,the African American chairman of GOPAC. When Steele ran for senator in Maryland,it would become Chuck Schumers DSCC who played the dirty tricks,by sending in operatives that got hold of Steeles credit records and reports and illegally[as so found by a federal judge] leaking these to the media. JC Watts, a consistant and staunch Republican is viewed as ''token'' or ''oreo'' or ''uncle tom'',by those too stupid to know any better.
  Alan Keyes,Earl Ofai Hutchinson,Thomas Sowell,James McWhorter, and other black conservtaive or libertarian voices some of which are enconsed in AM talk radio are treated to the same vile racism due to the fact that they speak and think outside of the ideological box. They have strayed ''off the reservation''and are hated for it by their black and white liberal peers. Indeed,they are in stark contrast to the ''Big Sort''.
- Posted By: lvrplfc4l @ 08/06/2008 7:18:25 PM
  
  Comment: Yet another Democrat over simplification, as a Republican of the Teddy Roosevelt style of Republicanism I have vote for a Democrat black female state representative, black male Democrat for school board and a Hispanic female for county commissioner. I voted for all because they were the best candidate with the best ideas for our community. I'm more than willing to vote for anyone who has good ideas are you?
- Posted By: lvrplfc4l @ 08/06/2008 7:17:38 PM
  
  Comment: Yet another Democrat over simplification, as a Republican of the Teddy Roosevelt style of Republicanism I have vote for a Democrat black female state representative, black male Democrat for school board and a Hispanic female for county commissioner. I voted for all because they were the best candidate with the best ideas for our community. I'm more than willing to vote for anyone who has good ideas are you?
Posted By: Noam_Saying @ 08/06/2008 5:51:15 PM

Comment: donbl: Don't confuse the liberals with facts. They find them completely irrelevant anyway.
Posted By: Noam_Saying @ 08/06/2008 5:25:44 PM

Comment: If anyone knows about subsidies, it's a Democrat!
Posted By: Noam_Saying @ 08/06/2008 4:52:57 PM

Comment: Steven: If you Democrats are so educated and forward thinking then why is the core constituency of your party made up of people who populate ghettos, trailer parks and labor unions?
- Posted By: lvbartman @ 08/06/2008 6:38:02 PM
  
  Comment: Spoken like the true prejudiced bigot you are !
- Posted By: stephenprestwood @ 08/06/2008 5:04:35 PM
  
  Comment: Get your facts straight. Statistically, Democrats are better educated than their Republican counterparts. (Again, the truth hurts.) But your incorrect assumptions help prove my point about conservative stereotyping and misinformation.
  - Posted By: Noam_Saying @ 08/06/2008 5:11:28 PM
    
    Comment: I live in Memphis, and believe me, the people who vote Demoratic here are far from educated. They're walking around with one hand palm up asking for a handout and the other pointing the finger of blame at everyone but themselves. By the way, I have two college degrees with a 3.5 GPA.
    - Posted By: stephenprestwood @ 08/06/2008 5:19:38 PM
      
      Comment: It's a big country, Noam_Saying. Get out of Memphis some time and check out the realities in other areas. The fact is that Blue states like California and New York subsidize Red states like Tennessee with their tax dollars. The US Treasury Dept can supply the facts. And if you look at the economic engines in California like the Silicon Valley and western LA County, they are dark Blue.
      - Posted By: Americana @ 08/06/2008 7:09:18 PM
        
        Comment: To suggest that CA tax dollars are subsidising any other state requires a severe case of ignorance. California has been in the hole for almost a decade due to the retarded liberal energy policies of Democrats like Gray Davis which included closing ALL nuclear energy plants in the state. In case you don't remember, Californians RECALLED governer Davis and voted for a REPUBLICAN... TWICE.. in order to stop the unbelievable hemoraging caused by idiotic bleading heart liberals. Californians like myself who once considered ourselves Democrats have taken notice and 90% of the people that I know would not vote for obama if they had a gun to their heads, and I live in Los Angeles. While there may be a bunch of idiots driving around with their little obama 08 stickers all over their cars... I have yet to find a person without a bumber sticker on their ride that would vote for him. Dems have surely taken a hit in California because of policies.
        
        Posted By: LIKEITIS @ 08/07/2008 9:35:38 AM
        
        Comment: FINALLY TRUTH................THANKS!
      - Posted By: Americana @ 08/06/2008 7:08:37 PM
        
        Comment: To suggest that CA tax dollars are subsidising any other state requires a severe case of ignorance. California has been in the hole for almost a decade due to the retarded liberal energy policies of Democrats like Gray Davis which included closing ALL nuclear energy plants in the state. In case you don't remember, Californians RECALLED governer Davis and voted for a REPUBLICAN... TWICE.. in order to stop the unbelievable hemoraging caused by idiotic bleading heart liberals. Californians like myself who once considered ourselves Democrats have taken notice and 90% of the people that I know would not vote for obama if they had a gun to their heads, and I live in Los Angeles. While there may be a bunch of idiots driving around with their little obama 08 stickers all over their cars... I have yet to find a person without a bumber sticker on their ride that would vote for him. Dems have surely taken a hit in California because of policies.
        
        Posted By: DoctorJazz @ 08/07/2008 2:49:41 AM
        
        Comment: Uh, we're talking about Federal tax dollars here, friend. It has nothing to do with California's state budget. And nobody has closed any nuclear energy plants in California.
        
        Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 08/07/2008 12:00:30 PM
        
        Comment: Rancho Seco nuclear power plant located in south-central California,and another east of Sacramento,have been closed for years. Outside of the Livermore test facility,[and I could be mistaken here],all if not nearly all nuclear power plants in California are non-operational.
        
        Posted By: Americana @ 08/07/2008 7:09:59 AM
        
        Comment: First of all, stephenprestwood clearly stated that California and New York subsidize Red states. If the poster was speaking of more federal tax dollars going to Red states it would have almost nothing to do with California or New York. You're talking as if California and New York carry 80% of the federal tax burden. What a joke. NOT EVEN CLOSE!
        
        Per capita California pay less than many other states and while in fiscal 2005 CA payed approximately 290 billion (8,047 per capita), it had a return of 242 billion. States like New Jersey (9,947 per capita) are getting killed in comparison with federal tax pay-ins of only 50%. Oh, and many "blue states" get up to 30 or 40% more federal tax dollars than they pay out.
        
        California isn't that bad at all, there are just a lot of whiners living in the state. Don't even get me started on that.
        
        Furthermore, California recieves more federal tax dollars than many other states due to the federal energy subsidies that it recieves. These subsidies are a result of the severe energy crisis we have been experiencing for the past 6+ years. Our energy costs quadrupled long before the current national energy crisis even started, after which our energy costs tripled on top of the original quadrupling.
        
        On the other issue...
        
        PG&E's 63-MW Humboldt Bay, SMUD's 913-MW Ranch Seco and SONGS' 436-MW San Onofre were all shut down.
        
        We now have only TWO plants in California:
        PG&E's San Luis Obispo NGS
        SCE's San Onofre NGS
        At their peak, these two plants only provided 15% of California's energy needs and that percentage has steadily declined as a result of much higher demand by consumers and businesses.
        
        Both of these plants were originally scheduled to be relicensed around 2020 but will instead likely be forced into a "cool down" as a result of a moratorium blocking the relicensing of existing nuclear plants. It will make it economically unviable for either PG&E or SCE to ever restart these plants if any sort of "cool-down" begins.
        
        There is also a 30+ year moratorim blocking the construction of any new plants in California. This means that for the next 25 years Californians can only expect to absorb far more severe increases in energy costs than the rest of the nation.
      - Posted By: donbl @ 08/06/2008 5:36:16 PM
        
        Comment: Stephen, that is a fanciful Blue state statement.
        
        Actually, NY and CA get more dollar per citizen than Tennessee.
        
        Saying poor Southern Tennessee is a bunch of redneck poor people is elitest and wrong.
Posted By: libertyfirst @ 08/06/2008 4:42:18 PM

Comment: Steven, you just exemplified the very characture of the liberal elitist wanting to recognize, then villianize, and ultimately demand some sort of governmental action against. We all want "better education, healthcare, and economic development." Yes, even evil, big-business loving Republicans do too. The issue is that folks disagree with how to get it. I'm a conservative...so I tend to want less government manipulation of markets, less regulation, less government telling how to live, what to eat, what to drive, etc... and...yes, tougher expectations for public education (and immense financial black hole it represents). If you disagree, fine. But disagree with facts and positions supported by objective evidence, rather than simply calling me ignorant, or duped by Rush Limbaugh. Example: the evil "big business" you speak of is what provides many, many Americans a job, a career, money, a standard of living etc... So before you cast your wide net of disparage, please keep some perspective. Lastly, what does make a conservative's blood boil is the too frequently cited call to arms by the liberal elite for governement to make structural changes to how we live for the "betterment" of all. America was founded on the notion of liberty -- not a never-ending set of rules made by elected rulemakers designed to decide who wins and who loses. So please, would all the liberals out there rest their urges to regulate us to "utopia" and allow me to make my own mistakes. Let me choose the wrong foods, be unhealthy, suffer the consequences of my own actions, enjoy the fruits of my own labor, live life the way I choose and NOT according to how you would so want. Thank you.
- Posted By: lvbartman @ 08/06/2008 6:30:26 PM
  
  Comment: 'live life the way I choose and NOT according to how you would so want. Thank you.'
  
  So are you willing to give me the same, in areas like gay rights?
- Posted By: lvbartman @ 08/06/2008 6:27:36 PM
  
  Comment: "live life the way I choose and NOT according to how you would so want. Thank you".
  
  And will all you conservatives do the same for me when it comes to issues like gay rights, marriage, serving in the military? Or is liberty first only for you?
  - Posted By: libertyfirst @ 08/07/2008 1:19:16 PM
    
    Comment: I have no problem with citizen rights extending to all citizens...gay or not. Liberty knows no color, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation as far as I'm concerned. I will, however, scrutinize and carefully consider any proposals for legislation written in such a manner that place "special" privilages and protections on any one group of folks.
- Posted By: stephenprestwood @ 08/06/2008 5:00:50 PM
  
  Comment: What makes your blood boil is that you have been duped by big business, power-hungry politicians, and religious charlatans. Pointing out the truth doesn???t make me ???elitist??? or ???arrogant???. Those are just buzzwords used by conservatives to scare people and to try to undermine reasoned arguments without ever having to address the facts. The conservative Right certainly knows something about villainizing people though. They???ve perfected the art. But people are beginning to see through this.
  
  And of course I???m not against jobs or even large corporations. I???m just against an elite group of business executives and board members from rigging the system against the best interests of the American people. I think the bloated CEO salaries, outsourcing, price-gauging, and corporate corruption scandals are visible signs of a rotten core.
  - Posted By: libertyfirst @ 08/06/2008 5:15:56 PM
    
    Comment: Point out all the truths you wish...no problem for me. But you seem to be arguing that someone (government) should do something about these "truths." That's what disturbs me...and a lot of other folks I'm sure.
    - Posted By: stephenprestwood @ 08/06/2008 5:24:04 PM
      
      Comment: You're right. I am. Sorry if that's disturbing, but actually want my government to implement good policies based on the best information we have available. I want them to use science and reason and compassion for our fellow man in the process. Again, I am not afraid of the outcomes if we do that.
- Posted By: olderwiser @ 08/06/2008 4:47:58 PM
  
  Comment: That's some mighty passionate partisanship.
  - Posted By: libertyfirst @ 08/06/2008 5:02:04 PM
    
    Comment: Perhaps...along with some lousy spelling.
Posted By: coctyle @ 08/06/2008 3:13:48 PM

Comment: I think this does happen, but it is only one of many factors that determine where people live. Most can not afford to move wherever they want and may be limited by job prospects, particularly if the person works in a technical or specialized field.

On the other hand, I used to live and work in an area where I was a political minority, and that was one of many reasons that I chose to move. It took a couple of years before I could find a better job in a new community, but eventually I did. So, I don't think this phenomenon is going to lead to massive relocation, but more of a slow trend. The way politics go, people's opinions probably change faster than their address.
Posted By: olderwiser @ 08/06/2008 2:53:52 PM

Comment: This is a subject that will submit very poorly to superficial analysis. Sort of like trying to completely describe DNA in one brief sentence.
Posted By: paulte @ 08/06/2008 2:32:04 PM

Comment: It's not surprising that people like sameness. It's more comfortable. I think the polls are suspect though on questions like interracial dating. Maybe people have mellowed a bit in 20 years but I doubt 83% see nothing wrong with it.

About 20 years ago I met a co-worker at a Howard Johnson's restaurant in suburban NJ. She is black and I am white. We were friendly but definitely not dating, both alone there so I invited her to join me. I couldn't believe the amount of dirty stares that we got from people when they passed our table, at leat four. She was oblivious to it but it bothered me a lot. This small sample shows that this polling is suspect.
Posted By: SeattleBrad @ 08/06/2008 2:18:53 PM

Comment: I think this explains why the "wrong track" polls keep getting higher and higher. The conservatives think the country is becoming too liberal and liberals think the country is becoming too conservative.
Posted By: sunrunner5000 @ 08/06/2008 2:16:00 PM

Comment: I see nothing wrong with self segregation. Many of us had tried "Diversity" in all it's aspects, i.e., racial, ethnic, etc. and realized that the experiment has failed. I forget who wrote the article or where I viewed it (perhaps on Drudge) that mixed race churches more often than any other, fail and explode. Too many thin skinned (no pun intended) people. So it's only normal to expect little garrison towns being set up of protestant, family raising, caucasian, dual income, college educated individuals that vote either red or blue. This is only an example, not meant to downplay other groups. As my real estate experience proves time and time again (40 years in the game), people what to walk out to the end of the driveway to get the paper and see someone just like them in the morning. It happens to all groups and it has various names..."White Flight" leaving urban areas and the new one "Gentrification". This seems to be a new negative term somehow...people moving into Gaza Srip-like areas of DC and actually taking care of properties, wanting safe streets, services, etc. Heaven forbid!! PC or not, we all want the same thing...to live with our own cultural background be it political or otherwise.
- Posted By: LIKEITIS @ 08/06/2008 2:35:38 PM
  
  Comment: TRUE...............FREEDOM IS FREEDOM!
Posted By: stephenprestwood @ 08/06/2008 2:09:49 PM

Comment: Let's just tell it like is, okay.

Half of this country is ready to move forward and sees the future as a challenge and a great opportunity for global cooperation and progress. They believe in education and a reasoned, scientific approach to technical problems. They believe in compassionate approaches to social ills. They believe that our resources can be better allocated and that the goal of social equity brings many benefits. Their spiritual lives are rich and diverse and embrace an evolving moral consciousness. These people mostly live in blue counties and cities and vote Democratic. Their views are challenged everyday because they respect reason and intelligent discussion, and as a result their feelings, opinions and ideas continue to evolve.

The other half of the country is less well educated and doesn't even believe science is a legitimate approach to solve issues or learn about the world. They already "know" everything because they've spoken personally to God. They have a child-like view of religion and often attribute the same uneducated spiteful values of their own communities to God. They are suspicious of foreigners and unfamiliar customs. They do not believe the US has anything to learn from other countries or other customs. Their idea of community does not include people of other colors, ethnic backgrounds, or sexual orientations. They live in mostly "red" counties and cities where their views are rarely challenged. They believe it is more important to be unyielding than it is to be wise; more important to invoke the name of God than to act in godly ways. These people vote Republican.

No surprise then that these two groups choose mostly to live in separate communities.

Oh! Wait. I forgot. There is a third important group. They are just like the first ???blue??? group, except they are rich and selfish and cynical. They are well educated and sip Chardonnay too, but they vote Republican. In fact, they used to run the Republican Party but now it is a bit hard to maintain control over all those uppity religious types that they so successfully manipulated with wedge issues for decades. For them, it is all about hoarding their wealth and diminishing the competition. Fixing the game, so to speak. Interestingly, this group lives right along side the ???blue??? group and enjoys all their customs and ways--a strangely parasitic existence, really. They were killing the host for a while, but I think Americans are finally growing more immune to their virulent policies and actions. At least that is my hope.
- Posted By: lvrplfc4l @ 08/06/2008 3:10:21 PM
  
  Comment: Steven telling it like it is? Please your response is representative of the problem.
  The blue half is all knowledge and light, the red half is all ignorance and darkness, and
  then you find a third part? Wait half plus half equals a whole and then you find more?
  So much for the education in your blue half. This is the problem in America the unwillingness to see the other side???s point of view; both sides take all the credit and place all the blame on the other. The polarization of communities into enclaves of liberal v conservative, rich v poor or even educated v uneducated produces alienation and simplification. This allows groups to disdain other???s ideas, to belittle their beliefs and view them as nescient. What both parties have forgotten is that a representative democracy is not about crushing your opponent but about governing, governing both the wining and losing side, understanding that opposing sides must find common ground to govern effectively and that compromising is not surrendering principles but adjusting principles for the common good.
- Posted By: LIKEITIS @ 08/06/2008 2:46:04 PM
  
  Comment: WHAT YOU ARE SPEAK OF IS BIAS ......................AND THOUGH YOU SAY YOU HOPE FOR CHANGE...............................YOU ARE CERTAINLY BIASED TWARDS GROUP #1.......................MEANING ONLY THAT ALL HAVE BIAS...................AND YOU WILL JUSTIFY WHO'S IS APPROPRIATE!
  - Posted By: stephenprestwood @ 08/06/2008 3:54:04 PM
    
    Comment: Sorry, I stand by my comments. Sometimes the truth just hurts. I am from a Red part of the country and live in a Blue part, so I think I have pretty good perspective of the facts on the ground. People who value education and reason are always willing to listen to the other side and consider other points of view. But that doesn???t mean they have to accept them when it is clear that those ideas or beliefs are unjust or unhealthy for the country. I don't disdain the people personally, but I do disdain the beliefs and the effects they have had on our society. Most of the policies supported in Blue areas actually benefit those in Red areas the most. Better education, healthcare, and economic development would disproportionately benefit those living in Red areas. Ironically, most of those in Red areas vote against their own best interests. This is mainly because they have been duped by the self-serving manipulative segment of the Republican Party that is aligned with big business. This is that third group I was talking about. A very small, elite, and powerful group it is. A group that is really only motivated by power and money. Quite frankly we need to recognize the seriousness of the problem, so I am not here to apologize for pointing out the deadly flaws in much of the current thinking in America.
    - Posted By: LIKEITIS @ 08/07/2008 9:46:45 AM
      
      Comment: NOTHING TO BE SORRY ABOUT..................I BELIEVE YOUR ASSESSMENTS ARE FAIRLY ACCURATE.........................JUST POINTING OUT THAT YOUR STATEMENT SAY GROUP THREE'S LESS THAN ADMIRABLE ATRIBUTES INCLUDE BIAS....................WHICH YOU ARE SURELY ECHOING!
    - Posted By: lvrplfc4l @ 08/06/2008 4:20:20 PM
      
      Comment: People who value education and reason will sit and listen but will they actually hear what the other side says, not when they think like you and know they are right before the conversation starts. Do you really believe that if you disdain peoples beliefs you don't disdain them? Listen what is so wrong with believing government has no business telling you how to spend your money, how to educate your children or what religion to follow? The role of government should be largest at the local level and smaller as it rises from state to federal level. That is reversed now with a huge federal bureaucracy and parallel state bureaucracies that over taxes, over regulates and oversees all aspects of our lives. What you seem to advocate is surrendering freewill to those that know better how to run your life because all you red state people are to stupid to know better, that is not truth that is arrogance.
      - Posted By: stephenprestwood @ 08/06/2008 4:43:30 PM
        
        Comment: If my advocacy for a particular viewpoint makes me arrogant, then so be it. But this country has a great tradition of progressive thought and positive social change. At least I arrived at my viewpoints through careful consideration of the facts and not because I listened to fear mongering ministers or talk-radio hosts.
        
        Do you really think that the Federal government doesn't have a HUGE role to play in a politically complex and economically integrated world? I do. I am not afraid of taxes. I appreciate the services that are provided by them. Do I want an efficient government that spends wisely? Of course I do. That is why I currently vote Democratic!
        
        But, I don't want people in Red areas to surrender their freewill at all. I would just hope to see more of them embrace freedom of thought! I am not afraid of the facts or the truths that people will find if they use reason and compassion to guide them.
        
        Posted By: lvrplfc4l @ 08/06/2008 6:11:39 PM
        
        Comment: As long as they???re your facts and the truth as seen through the prism of your eyes. The fact your unwilling to even see the other side has a point view is laughable, maybe I misspoke about arrogance maybe your just obtuse. Neither party spends wisely that is part of the problem and the larger a government gets the less efficient it is, what with overlapping agencies all fighting for their dollars. You complain of CEO salaries and corporate corruption is that any different when compared government corruption? You claim that the Democrat (not Democratic) party will be efficient, ha, the Republicans won in 1994 because of Democrat profligate spending, only to be out done by the Republican earmarks for the next twelve years. With the Democrat take over in 06 earmarks are down slightly according to OMB from 13492 under the last Republican Congress to 11510 under the current Democrat Congress, all this proves is that whoever is in charge spends taxpayer money wastefully. As for freedom of thought, please all of your comments express a deep disdain for anything the other side thinks the only freedom of thought your interested in is their freedom to change their mind and blindly follow along with you. As for your comments on the progressive movement you might like to do a little reading on it as Theodore Roosevelt who pushed most of the early progressive legislation through Congress.
Posted By: olderwiser @ 08/06/2008 2:04:36 PM

Comment: We like to point to progress in tolerance when we can find it, and a healthy tolerance is the only way for a society to go well, but deep in the core of our human nature is a tribal gene that is always trying to get back onto the surface of things. Sometimes it makes it, and sometimes it doesn't. As Emeril says with a wry smile, you know who you are.
- Posted By: LIKEITIS @ 08/06/2008 2:37:51 PM
  
  Comment: NICE!
Posted By: mush @ 08/06/2008 2:03:19 PM

Comment: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The rigging of congressional districts to reflect one or the other political parties has at the very least exaggerated the findings of this study. Do the authors take thisionto account?
Posted By: donbl @ 08/06/2008 1:50:20 PM

Comment: Is it "Like mindedness" or is it being forced on us by class warfare being espoused by one candidate.......?

I suspect that if the counties with >20% for one candidate were also looked at by economic conditions or "college" town or not, then I would suspect a high relationship between economic conditions in those same counties and voting history would also exist..

In other words, the poor are more segregated than ever and college towns are almost islands residing in America with a very sheltered and inbred population.

Austin is one of those sheltered islands existing solely because of State funding and the existence of the university........

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