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The Divided States of America
MacLean's ^ | March 10, 2017 | Scott Gilmore

Posted on 03/11/2017 5:07:00 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

The United States is no longer a melting pot; it has become a nation dominated by two very different and increasingly hostile ethnic groups. Their mutual interests are shrinking, their conflicts growing and the implications for long-term stability are dire.

The polling group FiveThirtyEight shared some important data this week. There were just 303 out of 3,113 counties where the electoral outcome between the Democrats and Republicans was within single digits. In 1992, there were three times as many. During the same time frame, the number of counties that were won by landslides increased tenfold. American voters have begun to clump together, to live in political enclaves where everyone is either a Republican or a Democrat. There are places where the next generation will grow up without being exposed to anyone who supports another political party.

The development of political ghettos is exacerbated by the growth of intellectual bubbles. People are increasingly getting their news from different sources. Up until the 1980s, most Americans relied on Walter Cronkite or the local newspaper. But with the growth of talk radio and the arrival of cable news, people began to segregate themselves. On the left, channels like CNN and MSNBC became popular. On the right, it was Fox and Rush Limbaugh.

The arrival of the internet and social media dramatically accelerated this. People began to isolate themselves into information bubbles where they only read news that reinforced their pre-existing world view. On Facebook, we have learned to mute those who criticized our party, or who rant about a policy we prefer. Our desire for looking into ideological mirrors is abetted by the algorithms that are used to populate our newsfeeds. These are increasingly adept at sending us only the information we like—in other words, whatever echoes what we already believe....

(Excerpt) Read more at macleans.ca ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: conservatives; culture; democrats; economy
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1 posted on 03/11/2017 5:07:00 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Those willing to accept islam, welfare for the unwilling to work etc can now be identified by DNA.

It’s time to trim these genes from future births. Cut them from the gene pool now.

Just say no more destructive retards.


2 posted on 03/11/2017 5:12:51 PM PST by soycd
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Why don’t they delve into WHY we are polarized? I think it’s because the don’t want to say out loud what we already know: the Democrats have become communists, & the Republicans still respect our American Constitution. There is no way to find a middle ground between those two points. Any give on our side, as has been done for far too long, just leads inevitably to the destruction of our Republic.


3 posted on 03/11/2017 5:16:38 PM PST by Twotone (Truth is hate to those who hate truth.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“Up until the 1980s, most Americans relied on Walter Cronkite . . .”

His last show was in 1981.


4 posted on 03/11/2017 5:17:28 PM PST by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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To: Jyotishi

Thank God. He singlehandedly lost Vietnam.


5 posted on 03/11/2017 5:19:41 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“The United States is no longer a melting pot . . .”

It never was a melting pot; it has always been a salad bowl.


6 posted on 03/11/2017 5:20:09 PM PST by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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To: Jyotishi

His supposed “ lack of political bias” is myth!


7 posted on 03/11/2017 5:20:20 PM PST by Reily
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Even though it’s Canadian, it’s not a bad article, gets it pretty right.


8 posted on 03/11/2017 5:22:19 PM PST by JPJones (George Washington's Tariffs were Patriotic. Build a Wall and Build a Wall of tariffs.)
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To: Twotone

“Any give on our side, as has been done for far too long, just leads inevitably to the destruction of our Republic.”

Ditto that.


9 posted on 03/11/2017 5:23:31 PM PST by JPJones (George Washington's Tariffs were Patriotic. Build a Wall and Build a Wall of tariffs.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The die was cast when the government and leftists began the push the worship of “diversity” instead of promoting assimilation and inculcating American ideals and culture.

I don’t know who dreamed up such a cockamamie policy but it is one of the most asinine policies ever foisted on Americans.

Worship of diversity has played a big part in the degradation of our culture and the general decline in social values we have seen over the last 50 or 60 years.

Who ever thought we would hear Americans criticized for believing we should enforce our laws and put the interests and well being of America and Americans first?

We are swamped with over educated numbskulls.


10 posted on 03/11/2017 5:28:31 PM PST by Vlad The Inhaler ("Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory." --Miguel de Cervantes)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Diversity: History’s pathway to chaos
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0816/hanson082516.php3


11 posted on 03/11/2017 5:29:46 PM PST by tbw2
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This is true for leftists, but not so much for conservatives. They will not listen to anything that contradicts their world view.

As conservatives, even if we are listening to Rush or Sean or Laura or any other of the talk shows that are conservative, we get to hear the leftist view at the top and bottom of the hour.

Stuck at the airport? CNN. Go to someone’s home and they have on the TV and you get the left’s worldview in the program. Even if it is ‘fiction’. I have quit watching so many programs that I enjoyed because they pushed some stupid liberal thing week after week.

We know who they are, they have no idea who we really are.


12 posted on 03/11/2017 5:30:42 PM PST by Ann de IL
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To: Ann de IL

‘We know who they are, they have no idea who we really are.’
So true. We, at least, understand the destructive nature of their ideology.


13 posted on 03/11/2017 5:39:14 PM PST by griswold3
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Bump


14 posted on 03/11/2017 5:42:58 PM PST by foreverfree
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Since Presidet Trump won approximately 2,600 counties and Clinton won approximately 489, this article suggests that in most parts of the country it was not only a victory for President Trump, but it was a landslide victory.

I wonder how many of the counties that were won in the single digits went to President Trump.


15 posted on 03/11/2017 5:51:41 PM PST by Piranha (Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have - Saul Alinsky)
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To: JPJones

Not really. The article talks about a divided America, when what really happened is that the vast majority of the US in terms of land mass has moved definitively into the Trump column, while only in very few counties was it close or was the vote in favor of Hillary. I the article were honest it would tell us the breakdown of vote in the counties that were won in the single digits between President Trump and Clinton.


16 posted on 03/11/2017 5:55:37 PM PST by Piranha (Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have - Saul Alinsky)
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To: JPJones

As a former Canuck, McLame’s tries to be the wsj OR nyt of canada.

the fun part? Canada is also divided as well. Head to Vancouver and Toronto during daytime and you will rarely see a white guy. They only come out at night. There’s been a long running gag on vancouver being called HONGcouver since the 90’s as the dominating culture have been Asians. Unlike here in the US where you have to press 1 for English, over there it’s Mandarin is press 1.


17 posted on 03/11/2017 6:03:00 PM PST by max americana (For the 9th time FIRED LIBERALS from our company at this election, and every election since 2008)
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To: Jyotishi

He lied to us in service to the State.

Most Rusted Man in America.


18 posted on 03/11/2017 6:06:17 PM PST by reformedliberal
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Any article on this topic which, like this one, completely fails to mention the devastating impact of 40 years of non-stop identity politics by the democrats, is worthless.


19 posted on 03/11/2017 6:14:53 PM PST by KyCats
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To: Vlad The Inhaler
I don’t know who dreamed up such a cockamamie policy but it is one of the most asinine policies ever foisted on Americans.

I'm fairly sure it was dreamed up by assorted leftists (many academics) who wanted to weaken the strong, post WWII America and the America of the Cold War era. They saw the way to weaken America was to bring in large numbers of immigrants, legal and illegal, from nations who had played little or no role in US history, and who had few if any already established communities in the US.

To overcome the objections of the extant US population, they used white guilt and created the "diversity is our strength" lie when they knew "diversity" would actually weaken what American had been for the first 200 or so years of her history.

And now the Democrat party is made up of hard core, white American leftists, narrow interest groups and many millions of non-European immigrants since 1965, of whom 70% plus vote with the Dims.

20 posted on 03/11/2017 6:17:27 PM PST by Will88
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