William Lloyd Garrison--the guy's still pretty relevant, don't ya think? If more Americans understood that "[their] country is the world", we'd be looking at different headlines today... You don't get to be the superhero and the insular nerd holed up in your basement clutching your Bible, moaning about "values"...
Now more than ever, I think it's time "Blue Staters" considered secession. You could hold the convention in Hartford--there's ample precedent for it...
I would argue that northeasterners, upper midwesterners, and west coasters have an obligation to cease contributing their considerable energies to a political culture in thrall to a Puritan "letter" which has become completely unhinged from the "spirit" of true moral introspection that once undergirded it.
I sincerely believe that it's the most expedient way to keep Texas from trampling the planet. If you cut the circulation to the "heartland", maybe it'll go into cardiac arrest.
Article comments
1 - Jim Harrison
As upset as I am over all this... We are all Americans. We have, in the past, seen our idiot brothers and sisters through to (eventually) more enlightened times... We'll have to do the same now...
2 - Eric Olsen
and as impressively monolithic as the blue states appear on the map, when you look at it by county, the nation is one huge patchwork quilt
I like the writing, though
3 - Eric Olsen
I meant "red" - sorry
4 - David Fiore
possibly Jim--but, as an Americanist whose primary interest is in New England culture, I have to wonder if the "we're all Americans" line has anything to do with reality.
The United States was a pragmatic arrangement between two very different political cultures that hasn't turned out to be very pragmatic at all.
Clearly, there are a lot of people in the "Bible Belt" that don't conform to the stereotype; however, the fact remains that these states have been at odds with the Northeast (& its cultural offshoots in the upper midwest and on the Pacific Coast) since the country was founded. And now that Southerners seem to have finally let go of their hatred of the Republican party for waging the Civil War (first Rep Senator from Louisiana since Reconstruction!), I can't see anything in the country's future but furhter polarization.
So why not make it official--and drastically reduce the militant heartland's power to affest the world scene?
Dave
5 - David Fiore
as i say Eric, you're right, there are republicans and dems in every state--but I think you'd agree that these parties wear different guises in different sections of the country (i.e. New Hampshirites have always been out of sync with the rest New England on libertarian issues--in the 19th Century, they were the only threat amongt the N.E. states to vote Democratic, now it's the opposite!! But they still actually have more in common with Vermonters on most issues than they do with the average Deep Southerner)
This isn't so much a question of "good people" vs. "bad people" as it is a question of complete incompatibility. You can't have a workable democracy without some kind of fundamental agreement that precedes questions of policy, and I don't think that kind of agreement has ever existed in America!
Dave
6 - Eric Olsen
hmm, I see various trends countering each other, but the overarching trend is toward greater homogeneity due to mass media, ease of travel, mobility (not exactly the same thing) - ultimately what we have in common is popular culture and an economy
7 - David Fiore
well, that's definitely the more hopeful view--and since it's also the more realistic one, I hope you're right Eric!
Dave
8 - Eric Olsen
you didn't use to find "cosmopolitan" types all over the country, any damned place - now you do. I think that's the best indication
9 - JR
I am all for secession.
Since Schwartzeneggar can't be President of the U.S. as it's currently configured, maybe he can be lured into endorsing this idea by the opportunity to be the father of a new country.
10 - David Flanagan
You don't get to be the superhero and the insular nerd holed up in your basement clutching your Bible, moaning about "values"...
Reading posts such as this one helps me to better understand why Tom Wolfe has said, "the liberal elite hasn't got a clue." I see and hear the same rhetoric all the time from liberal elites. They ask, "what is this 'values' thing?"
And the same holds true in their use of words such as culture and diversity. The world must be rigidly defined in order that it might become less threatening.
The greatest irony of your post, Dave, is the fact that you accuse Christians of being insular, yet their vote made a difference in this election. Furthermore, the only one I see moaning about "values" and expressing a preference for isolation is you.
David