In an article by The Atlantic senior editor Ronald Brownstein, pressure on unity within the United States will continue to intensify in the coming years due to growing divisions between Democrats and Republicans.
Brownstein refers to the opinion of political strategist and Analyst Institute project chairman Michael Podhorzer, who considers it a “fundamental mistake” to think of the United States as a single nation, which is a marble mixture of “red” and “blue” people (by “red” means the Republicans, by “blue” – Democrats, – “MK”).
In fact, according to Podhorzer, Americans have never been a single nation.
“We are more like a federal republic, consisting of two nations – blue and red,” political strategist Braunstein is quoted as saying. – This is not a metaphor; it is a geographical and historical reality.”
The journalist himself notes that the differences between the “reds” and “blues” are intensifying and this leads to the return of those dividing lines that have existed for most of US history.
“All of this is fueling what I call the ‘great divergence’ between the blue and red states,” Brownstein writes.
He notes that such a divergence is incredibly undermining the cohesion of the country, “however, what is happening is increasingly like a intermediate point.”
The author of the article points out that Podhortser warns that pressure on the country’s fundamental unity is likely to continue to increase in the coming years.
The defining characteristic of America in the 21st century, in his opinion, is “the antagonism between the red and blue nations.” And this is a significant difference from America in the mid-20th century, “when the main trend was a general rapprochement.”
Growing disunity, in Podhorzer’s view, means that after the time of erasing differences, a period will come when fundamental differences “going back to the very foundation of the country” will resurface.
In addition, Brownstein cites Johns Hopkins political scientist Lillian Mason, who believes that as the split between the Blues and the Reds widens, there are “risks of really deep social upheavals that will affect not only feelings and opinions” of Americans.
This does not mean that “Americans are doomed to fight each other again, as they did after the 1850s,” Braunstein notes.
But he believes that “the 2020s may bring with it the most serious threats to the stability” of the United States “since that dark and turbulent time.”
Source From: MK
