The Disunited States of America?

The United States of America was not created with the idea that everyone shares the same ideas and beliefs.  As we all know, James Madison, the father of the Constitution, intended the country to be based on a puralist democracy, a system in which groups organize to exert influence on political decision-making.  These groups were called factions, and these factions had different views or opinions on how the government ought to be conducted.  In fact, an example of factions are the Democrats and the Republicans.  These two political parties have deep divides in political ideology, and are always in constant conflict with one another.  This is to be as expected; these two parties are the most popular in the entire country.  Therefore, American political culture is conflictual, as the many differences in opinion between liberals and conservatives (Democrats and Republicans), and the split between the two among the American population signify this.  

                                                  

The people in either parties have their own set of values and beliefs.  Issues that are important to Democrats may not be important to people in the Republican party.  This is a key component in the article "One Nation, Slightly Divisible" by David Brooks.  Brooks touches upon the differences between "Red America", people who are conservatives and live in the southern United States, and "Blue America", people who are liberals and live the northeastern and western United States.  People who live in Red America for example, are usually living in rural areas where they provide for the themselves and there families.  Therefore, these people want a government that is less involved with their daily lives.  On the other hand, people who live in Blue America are generally liberals and are dependent on the government for their daily lives (in terms of transportation and amount paid).  Thus, these people want strong government to help them succeed in their urban lifestyle.  This is why in the video "Crossfire: The Great Divide 1/3", the two governors, one from Illinois (Democratic state), and one from Texas (Republican state) were arguing about minimum wage.  The Illinois governor believes that raising the minimum wage will create jobs, thus bolstering the economy, however the Texas governor believes that this will hurt businesses, and jobs will be lost.  This demonstrates the clear division in how the political issues are dealt with; there are always two sides to one problem.  Also, Democrats are pro-choice in terms of abortion while Republicans are pro-life.  This may have something to do that people in Red America are very religious, and have strong beliefs about to the right to life.     

This chart shows that much of America is divided between Democrats and Republicans.  Therefore, the this nearly split division shows that the United States is hardly ever in agreement concerning a topic.