America is heavily polarized. the root cause of that polarization is racial in nature. white people angry and afraid of brown people and immigrants are growing in power and changing the country. the great replacement theory basically. there are also religious divisions too but it’s mostly racial from what I can tell. for example, controlling for religion only mildly removes the urban vs rural divide. controlling for racial attitudes removes 3/4 of the divide.
As a country we aren’t brave enough to openly admit to the fact that we’re like this, so people get upset when you discuss it and want to pretend our issues are just due to economic stratification.
It’s true the US doesn’t have a good track record on race. But I also think some people want to make race the main focus of political divisions. I don’t agree that’s helpful or accurate.
The problem is that some people absolutely refuse to discuss race as the cause of political divisions. That is neither helpful nor accurate. It instead inflames and spreads disinformation.
I agree. Refusing to acknowledge that racism exists can’t help fix some deep-rooted problems that must be addressed here in the US. But I’m not sure if race is always the main cause of political divisions. I don’t think we should ignore the others factors.
I don’t agree. I think there is a significant urban/rural political divide that is being ignored by by politicians like Hilary Clinton. I don’t think it’s just about race. Resource extraction, way of life, taxes, crime, etc. also come into play.
I would be more than willing to read evidence to the contrary if you’d be willing to post some links. Especially with respect to Democrats actually addressing rural concerns.
The “urban/rural” divide is mythology. Or more properly it is the RESULT of racism among less educated whites. There are several posts in this very thread providing the evidence you are asking for. Just before the hijack about where the Midwest us.
Well you’re the one making a claim that the Democrats ignore rural concerns. I think the cite is needed from you on that. We can’t prove the negative of your positive claim.
It seems to me much of the Build Back Better stuff would help rural people as well as urban. Democratic policies are to help everyone. I can’t think of any Democratic policy designed to hurt rural people. Plenty of GOP policies hurt rural people, just as they hurt almost everyone else aside from the wealthy and powerful.
It hurts the rural people who judge their own self worth based on how much worse someone else has it. As other people’s condition is improved, those people feel diminished in comparison. Equality feels like oppression.
Yes, and they are fine with that, as long as those policies are sold as hurting other people even more.
Why can’t we just have an intelligent discussion on topics, instead of bringing in “mythology”? Also, since this thread is about demographic shift, the discussion about the demographics of Pennsylvania seems relevant.
It seems like US politicians are ignoring the other factors.
Why do you want to prove the negative of my position? Let’s just discuss. This BBC article talks about both sides of Biden rescinding the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline in 2021. It seems like political ideology (e.g. reduce carbon footprint) doesn’t always consider the effects of those policies on some people’s ability to feed their family. It works both ways, because workers concerned with feeding their families aren’t concerned that humans are contaminating our planet and destabilizing our climate, or worse.
Absolutely! As long as jobs are created, any business can do anything! That’s been the American Way for two centuries! There’s always only one choice and it’s whatever business says! The future can fuck itself! Now is all that matters! Hey kids, so you’re going to live in a disaster-filled hellhole for the rest of your lives! What did you want us to do? We could have said something, but it would have meant less money for oil corporations! Remember, anybody who tries to make life better for you is the enemy and must be stomped into the ground! What? No, I’m not totally insane. I told you. This is the American Way!
This seems dystopian. There is still a chance humans can survive our transition to technology. But we make bad choices. We have to limit fossil fuel consumption, but then there’s this Reuters article. I’m not willing to give up yet.
Wow! Gosh! OMG! 150 eagles killed! And the company’s not doing anything about it except spending “as much as $27 million on efforts to prevent more deaths.”
I mean that we make bad choices. We burn fossil fuels without regard to consequences. We pollute our drinking water with endocrine disruptors. We split atoms into toxic forms with a long half-life. Then a reputable source like Reuters writes an article about a wind-farm company not getting a permit to kill eagles. We make bad choices, but I’m not willing to give up yet.