The Growing Gap between Left and Right

There's a major division developing among the American people, best reflected in the election outcomes from the last two Presidential cycles. The election Tuesday show that, instead of closing the gap, it's growing even larger. The problem is highlighted by major difference in how each side approaches a host of different situations.

Left		Right
Internationalism		Nationalism
Weak Defense, passivism		Strong Defense, unilateralism
Dependency		Independence
Victimhood		Individual Responsibility
Social Engineering		Self-Determination
Organized workers		Individual workers
Situational morality		God-based morals
Environment first		Humanity first
Government-controlled economy		Free-market, free trade
Government involvement in everything		Limited government
Group-think		Individual thought
Group freedoms		Individual freedoms

There are other differences, scores of them, but the overwhelming difference in approach is highlighted by Star Parker's article today on Town Hall: whether we are people that think "outside-in", or "inside-out".

Our nation was founded on a profound belief in the freedom of the individual, with just enough government to secure those freedoms. Today's Republican Party doesn't match the zeal and energy of our founding fathers, but they do reflect, far more than the opposition, support for those ideals. The Democrats, on the other hand, think that all problems are best solved by government, regardless of what the problem is, or whether thats a proper role for government to play. The political map reflects this huge divide in the way people think about the role of government.

Most Democrats live in urban areas. The national map only partly tells the story. There was a much better map, based on results county by county, for the 2000 election (the 2004 map will probably be equally revealing). The blue portions of the map are primarily urban/industrial, while the red portions of the map are suburban/rural. City life requires more dependence on government-supplied services, rural life requires more self-reliance. In the city, everything is either manmade, or man-controlled. The suburbanite/rural dweller is much more likely to encounter raw, unfiltered nature. City life is concentrated in a small area and limited encounters with totally different demands for adaptation than rural and suburban life, which is extended beyond a tight cluster to cover a much wider range, and a larger variety of experiences and encounters. Party membership becomes a reflection of our personal lifestyles - government dependent city dweller or individual-dependent suburbanite/rural dweller.

We truly are becoming two nations, each with different requirements and different needs, different attitudes and different cultural mores. Our future success as a nation will depend on whether all the citizens of this nation can understand and acknowledge this, and can find a way to work together for the common good.

UPDATE: Here's the county by county map for the 2004 Presidential election. Compare it to the 2000 map - not much of a change, although there's a considerable change in the number of votes between the two parties.