purple states

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In honor of election day, I give you the following, from Books & Culture magazine's website: originally posted by Nathan Bierma on 1-24-05 (I'm a little behind in my reading.)
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"There is perhaps no more faddish political fiction in currency than the supposed divide between red states and blue states. It doesn't seem to matter that the much-hyped divide is highly dubious; see, for example, this map printed in the Boston Globe, which portrays each state as a slightly different hue of purple, according to its voting percentages in the last presidential election. Even before last November's close election, Alan Wolfe wrote a cover story for Wilson Quarterly that cast doubt on the red-blue divide, reprising his 1998 book One Nation, After All.

"Meanwhile, Stanford's Morris Fiorina has gained attention for a book he co-wrote entitled Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America. In the leadoff piece for the Atlantic Monthly's annual "State of the Union" package (which, like the entire online Atlantic now, requires subscription), Jonathan Rauch tries to remind readers what these scholars are saying, no matter what the nattering pundits keep repeating. "By no means," Rauch says, "does partisan parity necessarily imply a deeply divided citizenry." In fact, most Americans occupy a "conflicted middle."


Amen. And again I say, AMEN.