I agree with the basic premise of the cultural and frankly geographic divides in the United States. Having lived all over the country: from New England to the Deep South to the not-so-deep South to the Great Basin and all up and down the west-coast, with lengthy sojourns in northern Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Florida, Missouri, Upstate New York, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky and with an endless greyhound trip that defined my early twenties, I agree that there really are radical divisions vis-à-vis the various segments of people who live in this continental landmass.
Perhaps you are correct that what holds us together is a religious notion of 'America'. That said, we do have some common interests to some extent: I think that we all benefit from the fact that hostile foreign governments don't outright own the territory of California. I feel, to bring it back to the Seneca quote, that as a nation we've had too much good fortune. We forget that even mighty nations can fall, and fall to the mercy of hostile foreign powers, and that "divide and conquer" still works as a viable strategy.
I may dislike the culture of California --- both southern and northern --- but I prefer the culture of California to the culture of Imperialists of any foreign nation. The cold, factual military interests that unite the various regions of the United States are, to my mind at least, profound as they are pragmatic and are too often forgotten in the stupor of ending drunkenness inculcated by the excess of good fortune the United States has had vis-à-vis other foreign nations for going on 80 years now.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2020-12-20 11:21 am (UTC)I agree with the basic premise of the cultural and frankly geographic divides in the United States. Having lived all over the country: from New England to the Deep South to the not-so-deep South to the Great Basin and all up and down the west-coast, with lengthy sojourns in northern Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Florida, Missouri, Upstate New York, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky and with an endless greyhound trip that defined my early twenties, I agree that there really are radical divisions vis-à-vis the various segments of people who live in this continental landmass.
Perhaps you are correct that what holds us together is a religious notion of 'America'. That said, we do have some common interests to some extent: I think that we all benefit from the fact that hostile foreign governments don't outright own the territory of California. I feel, to bring it back to the Seneca quote, that as a nation we've had too much good fortune. We forget that even mighty nations can fall, and fall to the mercy of hostile foreign powers, and that "divide and conquer" still works as a viable strategy.
I may dislike the culture of California --- both southern and northern --- but I prefer the culture of California to the culture of Imperialists of any foreign nation. The cold, factual military interests that unite the various regions of the United States are, to my mind at least, profound as they are pragmatic and are too often forgotten in the stupor of ending drunkenness inculcated by the excess of good fortune the United States has had vis-à-vis other foreign nations for going on 80 years now.