I was going to put together a post showcasing all the various and sundry maps that people have been putting together to visualize the results of the presidential election, but then I found this excellent page that covers the ground better than I could have. But also look at this cartogram where areas of 50/50 split are colored white, and areas with a majority for one candidate or the other are tinted red or blue with the saturation indicating how far they swung.
In my opinion, the only people who benefit from painting half the country red and the other half blue are the politicians who want to keep us afraid. They want us afraid of terrorists, of criminals, of people from the other part of the country from us, of each other. They want us afraid because when we're afraid we don't think clearly. When we're afraid all they have to do is shout "boo" and we'll jump.
Look at the maps. Red/Blue is a myth.
And even if it weren't, all the colors mean is that a majority voted one way or the other for president. This is an opinion poll with only one question. It doesn't tell us very much about each other even with choices as seemingly opposite as Bush and Kerry. Pick an issue and a side, any issue and side, and there will be people with that view who voted for Bush and people with that same view who voted for Kerry.
The thing we need to do in this country (and probably the world) is shake off the artificial divisions that keep getting foisted upon us, and build a movement that's based in what we agree on. What is that? I'm not sure, but it's what I think we need to talk about instead of whether the Blue (or Red) states are going to let the Red (or Blue) states secede from the union. That garbage just distracts us from what's really important.
Posted by jeffy at November 9, 2004 11:48 PMThis is some of the soundest advice I have seen in a while. It caught me in my heart as well as my mind. Thank you, and happy Sunday.
Posted by: Patricia Taylor at November 14, 2004 11:15 AM