[Leanan]

No, it's not a typo. It's a book about the fracturing of the U.S. The author, Juan Enriquez, claims that if the U.S. stays the size it is, it will be bucking the trend. Three quarters of countries eventually break up into smaller parts.

The Untied States of America

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')ould the U.S. As we know it shrink or expand, change its overall values, or lose its position among nations of the world? The U.S. can and will change, for better or worse, according to Enriquez. With an amazing collection of statistics, stories, ideas, ruminations, charts, graphs, and photographs, Enriquez examines a host of trends showing decisive fissures in the U.S. that threaten to pull us apart as a nation if we don't heed warnings of past nations, notably the British Empire. The divisions between the red and blue states made clear in recent elections are only part of myriad other developments that could sever the U.S. or throw it into decline. He cites rising legal challenges to American sovereignty from Native Americans, Alaskans, and Hawaiians as well as demands for reparations from descendants of slaves. The increasing gulf between the haves and have-nots, along with gross inequities in education, also threaten greater divisions. Enriquez is stunning and dazzling in his analysis of a nation on the brink of coming unglued. This is compelling reading for those of all political persuasions who care about the future of the U.S.

[emersonbiggins]

The 'red-blue divide' is a myth. If you can believe that data can be manipulated to suggest certain results/outcomes, then you must also believe that maps reflecting that data can be manipulated to achieve similar effects. I can believe that the U.S. might be broken along ethnic or cultural lines, but the red/blue split is pure bullshit, especially when you consider just how "purple" the U.S. actually is.

[web]http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7emejn/election/[/web]

[NTBKtrader]

It doesn't take that much analysis to realize America is more divided than any time since civil war I. Just walk out on the street and strike up a conversation about politics in a crowded room and I bet it gets close to fisticuffs.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NTBKtrader', 'I')t doesn't take that much analysis to realize America is more divided than any time since civil war I. Just walk out on the street and strike up a conversation about politics in a crowded room and I bet it gets close to fisticuffs.

[Leanan]

The states may be purple, but will they remain so, when the people are so polarized?

I don't think so. Resource crunches tend to increase extremism, so I don't see the divide being bridged any time soon. I think the "blue" areas of the country will lean more toward Canada-style socialism, while the "red" areas will become Christian states. This is a divide that has existed since before the Civil War. It hasn't gone away, and it's not going to.

Right now, those people in Vermont who want to secede from the union and the Christian fundamentalists who want to take over South Carolina are mostly laughed at. I think that's going to change, when TSHTF. People will be desperately looking for answers, and what once seemed extreme will no longer seem so.

[Kingcoal]

I travel around the country a lot for work and I don't see any real animosity between people of various regions of the country. Go into some inner city areas and it's a different story. You might as well have stepped into a wormhole and emerged in a third world country. Even still, poor people in the inner cities are generally very dependent on government programs.

I see a problem as the inevitable process of reduction and eventual elimination of the "Great Society" and "New Deal" programs picks up steam. There are many, many people, mostly in big cities, who have never worked a day in their life. In a strange way, a lot of these welfare addicted poor people are very similar to the idle rich in that both groups are out of the daily rat race, free to sit around and not have to worry about everything that goes along with earning paychecks. As the free money is cut off, the cities are going to have to do a lot of brushing up on riot control. There will be riots in the cites, people freezing to death, people starving. It won't be pretty for those living in these welfare havens.

[seldom_seen]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 't')he red/blue split is pure bullshit...

[MicroHydro]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seldom_seen', 'I') really doubt that we are going to have a civil war over gay marriage or other social issues used by media and politicians to sow division.

[seldom_seen]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MicroHydro', 'w')hen the 'nascar dads' from the trailer parks take the gays off to the extermination camps.

[DesertBear2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seldom_seen', '
')
I really doubt that we are going to have a civil war over gay marriage or other social issues used by media and politicians to sow division.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', 'T')he states may be purple, but will they remain so, when the people are so polarized?

I don't think so. Resource crunches tend to increase extremism, so I don't see the divide being bridged any time soon. I think the "blue" areas of the country will lean more toward Canada-style socialism, while the "red" areas will become Christian states. This is a divide that has existed since before the Civil War. It hasn't gone away, and it's not going to.

[Leanan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'U')nless you're suggesting that 45% of Texans are going to be compelled to move to 'friendlier' parts unknown

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'U')nless you're suggesting that 45% of Texans are going to be compelled to move to 'friendlier' parts unknown

[Leanan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')o you think religious zealotry will spread to the current neocon soccer mom crowd (easily half of the current conserv base)? I'd like to see Nascar man try and convert me. Sigh... I guess it's time to buy a 12ga.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')o you think religious zealotry will spread to the current neocon soccer mom crowd (easily half of the current conserv base)? I'd like to see Nascar man try and convert me. Sigh... I guess it's time to buy a 12ga.

[Leanan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')till, I think you're overestimating the dedication of most neocons to their ideals. Once their homeowner entitlements and easy-motoring lifestyles start to become endangered, my guess is that their backlash will be against the government, not each other. Don't get me wrong; I think we'll see an upsurge in discrimination, but it will pale compared to the larger movement of a neo-populism that I think will occur in these parts.

[emersonbiggins]

But the federal government has been as much an inhibitor to those civil rights as an arbiter. Once the bureaucracy of 'entitlements for all' ceases to exist (historically, in and of itself discriminatory), the middle class will cease to exist and we'll gradually find ourselves in the same boat as those we have the luxury to lambast now.

IMHO, Soccer moms will be closer to burning Conocos to the ground than chasing Sergio or Tyrone down the street in order to gun them down for gas money.

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', 'T')he natural first fault line is the old Mason-Dixon line.

[Leanan]

It's an old survey boundary, that ended up being the border between the north and south during the U.S. Civil War:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_dixon_line

Not coincidentally, it was also pretty much the border between "red" (Republican) and "blue" (Democratic) states in the last election.