You did not speak to my question. 50 different states causes great divides. I asked about the danger of these divides.
We really don't have 50 states anymore. Not as envisioned. We more or less have become one huge conglomerate. Where the division is, politically is with regions, not states. The Democrats have their bastion in the Northeast, the west coast and some island states around the great lakes. The Republicans have flyover country as Democrats refer to it.
This ideological division has always been with us. Remember the Northeast started out Federalist, industrial, vs. the more Republican, agricultural south. The Northeast for a much stronger central government, the south for a less powerful central government. This battle of how much power the central government should have over the states has continued on since our formation. Sometime the debate abetted, especially during the cold war in more recent times. Today, it has come to the fore once again. I'm probably wrong using political parties, as they switched their thinking on this a few times.
Even so, the regional differences do exist. It's not a division of 50 states, it's a division of political ideology. One side wants the central government to everything and be responsible for everyone. The other believes more or less in individual responsibility with a lot less government interference in a citizen's daily life. During the cold war, this country took a more middle ground, compromises were worked out and all regions were fairly happy.
Now we don't have that external threat. We're focused more on domestic than foreign. It hasn't helped our two major parties have move further and further left and right expanding that divide. It hasn't helped that in recent history compromise has become a four letter word. It hasn't helped that both major parties have shrunk losing their moderates, the center, center right and center left folks leaving only hard core leftist and rightist.
Now this political battle has always been there, less pronounced at times, but there. We were united more or less during the great depression and WWII. Korea and Vietnam divided us again, while the cold war had a uniting effect. 9-11 give this country only a couple of years of being united, only to fall apart once again as the domestic side regained prominence.
In short, I don't buy the 50 state divide, I do however buy into the two ideological, region divide. Let make that three, the ultra leftists, the ultra rightist and those in-between. We call those in-betweenist, the center, center right and center left, I like the phrase middle America. Most call them independents. A group that has risen from 30% of our electorate to 43% today while the two major parties have shrunk.
The battles we have today is between the ultra's. The hard core of each ideology. That leaves the biggest chunk of Americans scratching their heads wondering what the heck is going on here. You seen the influence of the middle, give congress to the Republicans in 1994 and then the presidency in 2000. Tired and fed up with the rightist philosophy that went too far, the middle gives congress to the Democrats in 2006 and the presidency in 2008. then the left went too far from the middle, in 2010, the house, in 2014 the senate and in 2016 the presidency went Republican. Now the middle is fed up with the right once again, giving the left the house in 2018. Probably the senate and presidency in 2020 to be followed by the reverse again once the leftist gain power and over do it once again.
No, not 50 states against each other. It's two extreme ideologies against each other with those in the middle, the largest group, with no where to go and no political home.
