A friend forwarded an e-mail that in profane and scatalogical terms berated the Southern states of the U.S. for their population's hypocritical morality, militarism and reliance on the federal dole as evidence of their unfitness to be part of the U.S. This faraway friend remarked, "The U.S. feels more and more like it's on the edge of a civil war." In figurative but not literal terms, I tend to agree.
The results of the Presidential election suggest that our nationhood is tenuous in some ways; that different world views characterize North and South, urban and rural. And that when a President who engages in wars on truth and the environment, as well as actual wars, claims to be righteous and convinces a little over one half of the nation, concentrated in one sprawling region, that he is righteous, he inspires a revulsion elsewhere that presages further division.
The one apt word that George W. Bush has ever uttered in pursuit or occupancy of the Presidency is "humble." That was a long time ago, in a 2000 debate, when he talked about the need for a humble foreign policy. Ever since it's been all about hubris. I think this is at the heart of what divides us, even more than geography.
This week-old op-ed column in the Minneapolis Star Tribune kind of conveys the feeling of regional division:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5071409.html
"But think about it. If the South were its own country, then all those people who so desire it could have a Christian theocracy. They could have a country where the Bible is read in schools; where Creationism is taught in science class and evolution is not; where homosexuality would be against the law; where the Internet and Hollywood movies and rap music could be banned by law.
There would be trade relations between the Union of the United States and the Confederacy, and travel arrangements.
Also, evangelical Christians from the U. of the U.S. who desired to live in a Christian theocracy could emigrate to the Confederacy. Likewise, progressive-minded citizens from the South, as well as gays and others who would be persecuted, could immigrate here.
And then, maybe in the 2004 U. of U.S. election, these moral values would have prevailed: tolerance and respect for others; peace and justice; care for our needy citizens; scientific research to advance humankind; and care for the beautiful planet that God gave us."