On Dec. 12, 2020, the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) returned a surprising verdict after Ted Cruz, Ken Paxton and others craftily positioned an argument that demanded the attention of the 2020 election. Constitutionalists were shocked at the Supreme Court’s reasoning. Did this action take us one step closer to a divided America?
The unsuccessful efforts of 19 states to gain standing with the SCOTUS when protesting their state’s alleged disenfranchisement changed America’s self-perception permanently.
Texas and Florida, the second and third largest states, were among the 19 states. They knew that a Biden administration spelled trouble. There were growing signs of an overall collapse in belief in the American system. A new cynicism emerged and with it, increased scrutiny of the establishment.
Drifting Apart as a Divided America
“When we think about the United States, we make the essential error of imagining it as a single nation, a marbled mix of Red and Blue people,” Michael Podhorzer reported to The Atlantic. “But in truth, we have never been one nation. We are more like a federated republic of two nations: Blue Nation and Red Nation. This is not a metaphor; it is a geographic and historical reality.”
Ronald Brownstein admitted that the “great convergence” of the 20th century was likely an anomaly. In his article, “America is Growing Apart, Possibly for Good,” dated June 24, 2022, he noted the historical tensions in what he described as “two fundamentally different Americas.”
The Divide is Real
Podhorzer, the chair of the Analyst Institute, a collaborative of progressive groups that studies elections, said that there are “25 red states, 17 blue states, and eight purple states.” While he is not predicting another civil war, he is warning that the pressure on the country’s fundamental cohesion is likely to continue ratcheting up in the 2020s.
The problem is these deep-rooted differences have been present since the nation’s inception. Many can be traced to traditional differences among various peoples long before America’s founding.
To Podhorzer, the growing divisions between red and blue states represent a reversion to the lines of separation through much of the nation’s history. The differences among states in the Donald Trump era, he writes, are “very similar, both geographically and culturally, to the divides between the Union and the Confederacy. And those dividing lines were largely set at the nation’s founding when slave states and free states forged an uneasy alliance to become ‘one nation.’”
Traditional Differences – Contemporary Landscape
Today, the ideological differences may have never been greater. “Blue America” was outraged with the SCOTUS overturn of Roe vs Wade. “Red America” is horrified by the Democrat’s hyper-progressive agenda.
Just prior to Trump’s inauguration, Frontline’s “The Divided States” took a look at the country’s fractures.
“The nation long ago drifted into partisan schism. Only now are we beginning to understand the grave threat this polarization poses to the democratic principles we profess to hold dear,” TV critic Melanie McFarland said in the PBS production.
During the Great Convergence, a political center seemingly came together. It combined Eisenhour Republicans and Truman Democrats. But it was destined to run off the tracks. A middle-ground position became increasingly difficult with the Vietnam War and the Great Society. There was increasing mistrust in the government. Meanwhile, the government grew. When Ronald Reagan promised to reduce the size, scope, and cost of government, people listened.
During the 1980s a major political party shift took place. Southern Democrats became referred to as “boll weevils.” This group highlighted the changing landscape in the Democratic southern region. Many switched parties.
The 1990s saw a few years of bipartisanship but ultimately ended in an impeachment attempt, and the high-tech bubble burst. The financial meltdown of 2008 saw thousands of rising entrepreneurs bite the dust. Barack Obama’s “The Great Recession,” can be described in ousted House Speaker John Boehner’s cutting question: “Where are the jobs?”
The Rise of Trumpism
Donald Trump’s plain-spoken assessment of a system that worked against ordinary Americans filled in the blanks. Suddenly globalism was seen as a bad thing. Invoking “Americanism” became vogue. Establishment members of both parties saw it as a hostile takeover.
Meanwhile, three major regions of the country, the South, Midwest, and Far West realized that they were on the same page. They compared their own lots during the Trump years to Obama’s time in the White House. It became apparent that they were doing much better under Trump’s policies than they had done under Obama.
Large numbers of Republicans, perhaps more than 50% believe that Trump won the 2020 election. This, coupled with the Biden Administration’s report card, has resulted in an uneasy skepticism. More and more “red state” Americans see “blue staters” as people living in a different universe. Going separate ways might not be the worst thing.
Going Separate Ways?
Canadian Stephen Marche introduced “The Next Civil War,” an interesting, albeit naïve assessment of America breaking into four or five separate, like-minded small nations. He contended that the people would ultimately be happier. But could this really happen in our present situation?
The new nation would almost certainly become a part of the global currency reset. To Wall Streeters, this is merely a conspiracy theory. To those residing in “flyover America,” it is long overdue.
Talk about returning to an asset-backed dollar is nothing new. With the rise of the “BRICS” nations as new competitors to the G-7, it’s predictable that a country rich in both mineral and agricultural resources would court nationalism.
Civil War historians speak of the worthless Confederate currency following the war. Those who had contractually agreed to accept it were bound by the obligation. It amounted to nothing less than debt forgiveness.
