Dust in the Wind

So I must be looking like an amateur Andrew Sullivan with all my both sides of the table postings and links over the red/blue America issue. I just tracked down a book review for What's the Matter with Kansas? by one of the OxBloggers. Now I originally leaned towards definitive acceptance of the red/blue America divide, but now, after reading up on material from a lot of my fellow centrists, I'm realizing the only divide that exists is between those who are basically excessively liberal and the rest of the nation. And it's not just a cultural divide, but one of elitism and contempt. From the article:

"Frank is hardly alone. A large number of the Democratic faithful view the Midwest and evangelical Christians as socially backward, politically amusing and religiously nutty -- and the objects of this disdain are sick of it. The more than 65 million Midwesterners are sick of being considered ''flyover country'' -- that vast, flat, brown area glimpsed by people looking out of their airplane windows as they head from one coast to the other (perhaps with a stop in Frank's adopted hometown of Chicago). The estimated 70 million evangelical Americans are sick of being called wing nuts or Jesus freaks. And the socially conservative are sick of being derided as Neanderthals."

Now outside of a few select conservative issues I *really* have a problem with (say, their general complete disenfranchisement of gays), it is most acceptable to take on a rational stance on either side of the line on the main issues. "Red" America sees things differently, but they aren't "backwards." With roots in "red" and living in "blue," I truly hope understanding can eventually be reached.

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