It feels like it’s becoming the same tug-of-war in every election. Are you noticing this? Are you wondering, as I am, how it has come down to this these past 10 years or so?
It’s the urban vote vs. the rural vote. The upper income vs. the lower income. The more educated vs. the less educated. The “elitists” vs. the “real Americans.” The liberals vs. the conservatives. The theorists vs. the fundamentalists. The “issues” voters vs. the “values” voters. The Joe Six-Pack’s vs. the Wine-and-Cheeser’s. The “Books-and-Ballet” crowd vs. the “Guns-and-God” crowd. And now, increasingly, so some say…the “traitors” vs. the “patriots.”
Is there a reason why the lower-income, less-educated, “Joe-Six-Pack’s” find it so easy to support Sarah Palin, and say they could easily see her as President of the United States, while the upper-income, more-educated, Wine-and-Cheeser’s find it incomprehensible that anyone could think that Ms. Palin, nice person that she is, is ready to lead the most powerful nation on earth?
Is there a reason why the “Guns-and-God Crowd” and the “values” voters chant “Drill, baby, drill” and support a man who sings “Bomb, bomb, bomb-bomb Iran” to the tune of an old Beach Boys song, while the “Books-and-Ballet Crowd” and the “issues” voters find it incomprehensible that anyone could think that more raping of the earth and more dropping of bombs will solve anything?
Is there a reason why the majority of voters in most rural areas and middle states cast their ballots based on a candidate’s stance on whether a woman can have an abortion or not and whether a man can own a gun or not, while the majority of voters in most urban areas and coastal states find it incomprehensible that everyone isn’t casting their ballots based on a candidate’s stance on saving the earth by protecting its environment, and on sharing more with the millions who have little by asking more from the little who have millions?
Does any know what the reason might be? What do you think? I’m curious…
P.S. Listen…I know this is unfair, but I want to print here, as a post-script, one of the Comments posted below in the first few hours of this entry’s appearance. It is from a person posting as “Elaine,” and it was so interesting and such a stimulating comment that I wanted to make sure none of you missed it. So here it is, clipped and copied and pasted right in here. You’ll also find it below, of course, but, as I said, I did not want you to miss this one…because it so vividly illustrates exactly what I’m talking about above…

October 28, 2008 12:17 PM
Hey Neale,
In my opinion, I think it’s because we’ve become a more polarized society in the last 25 years. And after 9/11, more and more people seem comfortable with extremes. It’s easy to be “right” by flocking to what they believe is right; it’s easy to avoid “wrong” because it is so obviously not “right” that they don’t have to face the “gray” in the black and white world they want to live in.
I’m sure, like everything, there are people in metro areas who also vote for reasons you describe rural areas vote, and vice versa. But I still think the whole country could use a zap of bipolar meds, because we seem more and more divided.
This only reminds me of the church I grew up in (not the best experience…in today’s society it could be considered a cult). The leaders never encouraged thinking for ourselves, deciding for ourselves. Anything not proclaiming God’s name at every turn became “sin” and everything which mentioned God became “acceptable.”
I kid you not when I tell you that church women got into arguments over which laundry detergent to use, because one detergent “washes away stains like the Holy Lord washes away our sins” and therefore, brand A is better than brand B. If you use brand B, you go to hell.
Therefore, it became easy because people didn’t have to go through the effort of thinking, discerning, deciding. Someone said “all rock music is sinful. Listen to it and you’ll go to hell.” This solves the problem of discussing it, trying to determine what might have a good message versus a not-so-productive one. Someone decided that it was a sin to have a non-Christian cut your hair, and we should support the local hair cuttery where Christians worked. Guess what? Those people couldn’t cut hair to save their lives! The rebellious me went to a gay man across town because guess what? He was better at his job.
But it takes more effort to think for yourself, decide for yourself, than to just “buy into” much of the stuff being said by certain VP candidates who shoot wolves from the air! (Yeah, don’t get me started on that one…)
Will be interesting to hear others’ opinions too…
Elaine