There are two Americas

Joe Biden during this year's campaign and Barack Obama before him, both said that there are no Blue States or Red States, no Red America and Blue America, only the United States of America.

They're both wrong.

There are two Americas. And quite obviously, neither side understands the other.

Jim Wright today on Facebook summed it up pretty well:

So what have we learned?

Here is what it comes down to:

In Red America, people are OK with racism even if they hide it. People are OK with bigotry. People are OK with misogyny and sexism. People are OK with hate, creeping fascism, waving swastikas, lighting tiki torches and burning crosses. 

In Red America, they don't mind the grifter in the White House, as long as their 401Ks are up, even if that rise is an illusion. I saw hundreds of interviews this election season where retirees, farmers, small business people and many others said: "The economy is doing very well under Trump." But they do not understand the real economy. They believe that this man really has a good policy vis-a-vis China and trade. They believe that this man HAS made us safer with his policy with North Korea. That we're better for it and more independent if we're withdrawn from the Paris Climate Accord, the Iran Nuclear Deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and NAFTA (if you were to study NAFTA and the new deal Trump pursued, you would understand that the new deal is just a simple an update of NAFTA and that Mexico and Canada have given no new concessions that make life for American Producers and Consumers better.)

In Red America, they believe that that their taxes have gone down, not understanding the economic time bombs that the new tax law has put in place. Not just, raising taxes for people, but raising taxes for working class people. But economically untenable is also a system where corporations pay zero tax, where Billionaires get an increasing larger share of the pie, and where everyone else hopes to win the Lotto one day.

James Lee Burke in his latest book, "A Private Cathedral" has a telling quote:

We're living in weird times, Streak. I bet forty percent of the country wouldn't mind firing up the ovens as long as the smokestacks are blowing downwind. 

Unfortunately, it's true, most people in Red America believe in short term gain as opposed to planning for the future of their children and their children's children. They do not see any of the looming threats.

In Blue America we believe in science. We believe in planning for the future. We understand there is no room for hate, whether we talk about other races of people, the LGBTQIA+ community, women, or any other group or place.

In Blue America we might disagree on matters, but we think the road forward is through compromise. We believe that the normal give-and-take of every day life leads to better outcomes when trying to do policy OR just plan an outing. Journalists ARE NOT the enemy of the people. If someone asks you something you don't like, we don't call that person nasty.

In Blue America we do not believe in repressing other people, and ruling over them. This is why we abhor Fascism, Communism and intolerance in all its guises. We believe that every person is free to choose whether they believe in religion or prefer to remain uncommitted. We believe that every one's opinion is valid as long as it's based on FACTS, and TRUTH. See FACTS are real, and they do not have a bias. They're just FACTS, that's all. Science can not be an enemy. Yes, you can question science, but nothing in human life is absolute. If 99% of scientists say that "Climate Change"is real, that's as much as an absolute. You cannot take the 1%, if it exists, to deny Climate Change. Yes, you can question science, you can force it to be more accurate, and more precise with answers, that is the process. But to claim that science is wrong and religion is right is hypocrisy., You would not be alive today without science. Death in childbirth was a lot higher before modern medicine. Science did that. And the length of a human life was a lot lower before vaccines and modern medicine. But oh, how we forget such conveniences. 

We recognize that most people live their day to day lives are concerned with how they're going to pay their next bill. We have witnessed a minimum wage that keeps people below subsistence level, keeps people poor. No matter how many jobs you work. No matter how hard you try. Young people today cannot afford to purchase their first home, let alone plan for a wedding -- unless of course they have well-off parents.

The truth is that Red America and Blue America are far apart. They're like two separate countries.

There is a lot more I can list above, including the debt, gun ownership and gun control, immigrants in more detail, and the culture of law enforcement.

But none of that matters.

Your next door neighbor might be kind to you when you say "hello" and he replies the same, but secretly, he might think "you're one of them fags" or "one of them communist loving schizos" or "you're politically correct and look down on him." Mostly, if your next door neighbor thinks like that he hides it. He does not tell you. And he votes for Trump. Because Trump understand him. Trump talks like him. Trump enables him to say the things that are wrong and do not belong in society today.

Is Red America irredeemable?

Can Red and Blue America coexist?

Or should they become two separate countries?

These are matters for another day.