The Purple Myth

--- by Micheal Shackelford:
The 2004 Presidential election revealed that the 50-50 divide of the nation into Red America and Blue America was still there. Zero "healing" had taken place since 2000. Some, eager to try and show that the split was not real, but some media myth, substituted the now-familiar red-blue map with one composed of shades of purple. (such as this one: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/countymaplinearlarge.png)

The attempt to show America as one "purple" nation was a nice try, but only a hopeful myth. America does not have a continuum of political parties from Far Right, through Medium Right, Partially Left to Hard Left. We have only two real political parties. Only one person wins the presidency. The parties themselves do not seek accommodation or reconcilliation, but only hegonomy.

The split is not confined to party hacks. Angry Blue citizens threatened to move to Canada or France rather than live in "Bush's" America -- as if it were a distinct and separate country from their vision of a Blue America. Angry Blues growl about "Emperor Bush" and bombast about "Criminal Bush" needing to be thrown in jail, for just about any policy they dislike.

It doesn't appear that the Blue half has been too interested in healing. With the Supreme Court nomination hearings for Judge Roberts, we see the same Red/Blue split being acted out in carefully written speeches. Zero healing is evident. Both the Red and Blue continue to push for all-or-nothing total control. Blue champions like Senators Kennedy and Feinstein worry aloud that Roberts might damage their (blue) America. Perhaps they are quietly admitting that judicial activism is about the only tool left to the Democrats, since they've lost the congress and whitehouse. Their dramatic angst over judicial precedent reads as little but angst over the precedents that support Blue America.

There is little sign of true purple. Red and Blue are as pure and strong and divided as ever. The rhetoric for 2008 is already cranking up. The nation is headed for a repeat of the divisive battles of 2000 and 2004. Since no one is offering a middle ground -- a purple -- we're stuck with red, blue, anger and division.