America's Drastically Divided Political Culture

Increasingly in recent years, America seems to have two distinct political cultures that are in constant conflict with each other. These cultures are those of Red America (the parts of the country that lean Republican) and Blue America (the parts of the country that lean Democratic). In general, those in Red America tend to be more conservative, and those in Blue America tend to be more liberal. For example, a Pew research poll conducted around that time showed that those in Red America and those in Blue America were within ten percentage points on many major issues. These issues include:

• "There are clear guidelines about what's good or evil that apply to everyone regardless of their situation": 49% in Red America vs. 43% in Blue America
• "I have old fashioned values about marriage": 55% in Red America vs. 47% in Blue America
• "Too many children are being raised in daycare centers": 77% in Red America vs. 70% in Blue America

Additionally, according to a video from Vox titled "The bad map we see every presidential election", Red and Blue states not accurately represent the populations or electoral votes of the states. In fact, most states are divided between Red and Blue counties. Many states, known as swing states, also switch between Red and Blue. Furthermore, in Connecticut, which is definitely a part of Blue America, and almost always votes Democratic in presidential elections, Hillary Clinton only beat Donald Trump 55% to 41% in the 2016 presidential election, showing that there is significant geographic overlap between Red and Blue America.

Despite evidence showing that competing cultures in America still have notable geographic and ideological overlap, the two cultures in America are divided by far more than geography and simple ideology. In fact, the essay argues that Red America and Blue America even have different moral systems. According to the essay's findings, Red America values tradition, religion, self-discipline, and patriotism; Blue America tends to be more modern, secular, and self-expressive, but less patriotic. Additionally, the essay states that the prominent, conservative values in Red America are temperamental, meaning a part of the mindset, rather than reactionary or ideological. As a result, those in Red America and Blue America are not even loyal to the same institutions or values. The essay argues that Red America tends to adhere to religious institutions and traditional values, whereas Blue America tends to have modern values and place much more importance on education than religion. It supports this argument by stating that in Red America, churches and shops selling Christmas merchandise are both ubiquitous throughout the entire year, whereas many in Blue America cannot tell apart different religious denominations, do not know how churches in Red America even work, and might even follow very non-traditional religions such as Buddhism.

Also, in terms of politics, one can observe that not only do the two major political parties have completely separate ideologies, but the institutions that support and donate to these parties are different, with little overlap. Even companies from different sectors of the economy (thus differently affected by policy) tend to support candidates from different parties. Because of these divisions, the two political cultures in America do not think about issues the same way, which leads to liberals and conservatives not even discussing the same issues any more, to the point of near-complete gridlock between the Democratic and Republican parties in Congress. This is especially true right now, where both houses of Congress and the Presidency are all controlled by the Republican Party, and yet the party has failed to deliver on nearly all of its campaign promises nine months into what may be the Republican Party's only chance to actually take action regarding these promises. This lack of conversation is true even outside of the government. In the CNN "crossfire" segment, those with liberal and conservative viewpoints agreed on very little of what was brought up, and kept interrupting each other. This is symptomatic of a larger issue where politics is so divisive that people have a hard time even being civil in a debate setting. Opinions are so polarized that people cannot avoid letting emotions into their arguments, given that both sides are passionate about the exact opposite stances.

Although America is still one nation with one people who share some common interests, it is polarized between the political cultures of Red America and Blue America, leading to a lack of compromise in a system designed to get things done by forcing compromise. This leads to a cycle in which each side's opinions are reinforced in what are known as "echo chambers", which can be either geographic or a result of choice in acquaintances, which results in less compromise, which causes more "echo chambers" to form, and so on. Perhaps the only way to break this cycle is for those who follow politics and have strong, informed opinions to actively seek to engage with the other side and expose themselves to new ideas.