in his 2004 democratic national convention address, obama said "Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there is the United States of America." it was a wonderful idealistic message that we can all come together when it comes to the common good.

unfortunately, our country remains evenly split and deeply divided. the same states are red an blue as they were in 2004 and 2000 , and similar to 1996 . it's a trend that is new since the 1980's. here\'s a website that has electoral maps for elections since 1900.

there are differences in voting patterns based on educational attainment and income. people tend to vote based on their party affiliation: see the pie charts at the bottom of the page.

how did we get here?

i have seen some speculation that people tend to seek out others with similar beliefs, and that leads to their beliefs getting more extreme as a whole. i have heard that neighborhoods become polarized in terms of voting for one candidate or another, and that democrats do better in areas of large income disparity and republicans do better in areas of small disparity.

i also think that the media contributes. (no, i'm not calling it the "liberal media".) there are the 24 hour cable networks that are constantly trying to make a story out of something, and talking things to death, making issues out of non-issues, or things that i suspect would not have been reported on in years past. also, there's plenty to be found on the internet. only in 2008 could you have the sarah palin phenomenon. only a limited few conservatives, alaskans, and rush limbaugh had heard of her prior to her nomination. 10 days later, everyone knew who she was (at least a little bit, and can recognize her image).

so, we all come to the elections with our minds already made up, for the most part. closed minds. i'm as guilty of this as any. but i have my reasons for voting democratic!

how do we get out of this mess and move the country forward?

I don't know how to get the country to move forward. All I know is if the Neo-Conservatives win another election I will want to move to Canada or someplace else. I don't want to be around when our country goes down the toilet.

I called the Republican party Neo-Conservatives because that is what they have become. I'm not saying that all Republicans are Neos, but it seems that the party as a whole has is headed that way.

LOL
i said when if GWB got elected in 2001 I was moving to europe! too bad I didn't have the means...

A lot of Democrats said the same thing. Unfortunately, none of them were serious. The fact is, it is difficult to move to Europe. Many European countries, particularly Western European countries, have stringent requirements for those taking up permanent residence, including having a definite means of supporting oneself BEFORE coming, or bringing in a SIGNIFICANT wad of cash with you. On top of that, they will tax you to death when you get there. The average American living below the poverty line still has more square feet of living space than the average middle-class European.

:rolleyes: I wish people would stop threatening to move out of the country. If you really think you'd have a better life in Canada, do it. Jeez.

I consider myself to be partly responsible for Bush being in office now. I voted for him the first time around. Confused? Here's my story:

I was raised a Republican. Both of my parents are still republican and very conservative. While living at home I always viewed politics the way they did, I mean I was just a kid, what else was I supposed to think? Shortly after high school GWB was running for his first term as President. Still "agreeing" with everything my parents had taught me I voted for him. I remember a friend of mine saying that if he gets in office our country will start to fall apart...job loss...recession... Of course I did not listen to her.

About half-way through Bush's first term I started to question my political beliefs. To be honest I actually voted for Bush because of one issue...abortion. I'm not fully pro-life, in cases of rape or incest. I started to realize that I had become a "single-issue voter" I had voted for Bush because of one issue. That's one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made.

I am now a registered Democrat and my parents and usually don't talk about politics to avoid arguments.

I actually liked McCain somewhat...I thought if he was elected he would be a definite improvement over Bush. He seemed more moderate and able to make his own decisions, regardless of party lines. However, now that he has chosen Palin as his running mate there is no way I can vote for him. She seems like a pick to grab the Hillary voters and to appease the neo-cons who thought McCain was to middle of the road.

I have since promised myself to never again be a single-issue voter. I hope if there are other single-issue voters out there that they too "see the light" The republican "tax breaks for the rich and the wealth will tricle down" system obviously isn't working.

it looks like the same old electoral map. i figure that americans will get what they want come election day, one way or another. i think we need to avoid sensationalism and stick to the issues and plans for the future.

Well, if you keep insisting on calling everyone who disagrees with you a "Neo-Con", then I don't think this current division is going to improve. That's what I think is dividing this country. Each side is so intolerant or the other, we've become feuding neighbors.

I do my best to tolerate and accept people regardless of my deep-seated disagreements with their political ideologies. I think if we stopped throwing names around and threatening to leave if we aren't happy, we'd all be able to get along better and discuss the real issues.

I don't call everyone I disagree with a Neo-Con. Like I said before, there is a huge difference between a republican and a neo-con. Some republicans like to throw around the fact that they are the party of Lincoln, when in fact the republican party today would be completely unrecognizable to Lincoln. Republicans of his day were more middle of the road, not so far right.

I also do my best to tolerate people and accept them for them. My best friend loves Palin, I can't stand Palin, yet we get along great!

one of the issues that divides our country are values, or the "culture war". to me, it often seems like social conservatives are trying to say they are in possession of morality, while others are amoral or immoral. but clearly we all have our own moral compass with which we decide what is right and wrong.

i came across an interesting website made by a psychologist, jon haidt. he has several hypotheses regarding the moral foundations of politics and the "culture war", specifically, that social conservatives' beliefs are based in additional dimensions including ingroup/loyalty, authority/respect, and purity/sanctity.

you can take online tests of your moral dimensions on yourmorals.org . i just took a couple, and it's interesting because it shows you where your scores lie compared to self-identified conservatives and liberals who have already taken the tests. i landed to the left of liberal!

another interesting self-test at the political compass