Since Obama became President, I’ve been hearing that the country is more divided than ever before. This sentiment seemed to grow even more during Trump’s campaign against Hillary and his presidency. There have been endless news reports about this divide between the Right & Left, the Cultural Elites & the Working Class, Urban & Rural, Democrats and Republicans etc.
A friend of mine who’s into politics was discussing this with me and said he thinks perhaps it is time for secession. He said states are so far apart on issues that perhaps it is time to split into two countries.
I’ve been thinking about this for while. I’m not convinced that we’re more divided today than we were at other times during my life. But, I think those differences are being accentuated by politicians, the media, social media and pundits 24×7 so it may seem like we’re more divided.
I spent my first 7 years in the 70s in small town America.
In my small town, here’s what I remember:
- Population was <10,000.
- Everyone was white.
- Most people were working class poor.
- Everyone drove old cars made in the US.
- Many people grew food in their yards.
- Just outside of town, we were surrounded by farms that grew corn, wheat, vegetable and fruit, plus turkeys, cattle and milk cows that supplied our local stores.
- Everyone went to church. Christian church.
- Jobs were scarce and far away.
- Most people spent their entire lives here.
Then we moved to Pittsburgh where Lived for the next 20+ years.
- Population 400K-500K
- 80% white, 20% African American
- People were blue collar & white collar, rich & poor.
- Cars were varied.
- Few people I knew grew food.
- Farms were further out. Food was supplied from national providers and big grocery chains.
- There were lots of churches, but also synagogues, mosques and people who weren’t religious.
- Due to jobs, colleges and urban migration, people moved to different parts of the city or came from other places.
In just these two places, the people were quite different from each other.
The Pittsburgh neighborhoods I lived in and visited were often so different from each other that they felt like separate towns.
It was as is people were living in different worlds.
I remember news stories that talked about crime in NYC, cocaine and murder in Miami, and gang bangers in LA. I had friends who vacationed on the Florida beaches or came home from summer break with stories about Disneyland.
Sometimes on a road trip, we’d pass miles and miles of farmland with only a smattering of homes.
I imagine that most people living in these places were not “united” in their political ideologies with people who lived in other places.
I had a manager who once said, “Most people are good people just doing their best to try to put food on the table, a roof over their head and take care of their families.”
I don’t think that’s any different today.
As for secession, civil war or the “decline/collapse of the US”, I don’t think about it much. Everything changes. Nothing is permanent.
I thought the Covid pandemic would bring us closer to each other. Social distancing and lockdowns were awful. After vaccines became widely available and restrictions eased, I was genuinely grateful to see people, talk to them and look into their faces without a mask.
I made a concerted effort to be friendlier and to also pay less attention to our differences.
What seems most striking to me is how I do not know the political leanings of most of the people I interact with regularly. Nor do they know mine.
We don’t seem to care that much.