Searching for the "Real America"

So much chatter over the last several days over where the "real America" is. For those of you who missed it last week two GOP heavy-hitters, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann made two rather brash statements on out culture. First, from the land of 10,000 lakes. To be fair, Bachmann seems to be more after individual "anti-Americans".



Now let's hear from the GOP nominee for Vice President.



After hearing these comments I thought to myself, "Wow, that pretty brazen. I can't even remember hearing George W. Bush saying something like that." Then I thought to myself, all these two women are doing is spouting (finally) in public, what has been a political strategy of their party for the last forty years.

Richard Nixon seized on the strife surrounding the 1960s race riots and political assassinations to his political advantage. Those groups most easily connected by the rioting (African Americans, young people, academics, etc.) all became the "Other America", the unstable part. An overarching theme of safety and security would frame each of his presidential campaigns, including an overwhelming 23 point landslide in 1972. Though Nixon ultimately overstepped his power, the winning strategy remained - go for the patriotic, pro-security, pro-American angle and you'll win.

It's extremely interesting when you look at this strategy's effect on two counties, one that Gov. Palin would probably consider anti-American and the other perhaps decidedly pro-American. I live in one of them San Francisco, California and my dad lives in the other Huntington County, Indiana. They were in the 2004 election perhaps two of the most politically opposite counties in the country.

In that year, President Bush walloped John Kerry (74.3% to 24.8%) in Huntington County while John Kerry returned the favor in the City by the Bay, defeating the President (83.0% to 15.2%). What's so extraordinary about this situation is that if you look back at previous elections, the diverging Americas seem to have slipped farther and farther apart every four years.

Let's take Richard Nixon's first election in 1968 for example. That year Nixon defeated Vice President Hubert Humphrey by less than 1 percent, 43.4% to 42.7%, with Alabama Governor George Wallace earning 13.5%). In San Francisco, getting over its hangover from the "Summer of Love", Nixon received over 100,000 votes, garnering 33.7% of the vote to Humphrey's 59%. George Wallace received 5.8%. In Huntington County, the numbers were closer - Nixon received 54.5%, Humphrey 37.8%, and Wallace 7.6%. Check out the divergence

In fact this relative non-polarization seems to still have been around in the late 1970s, as Jimmy Carter only garnered 52% of the vote in San Francisco both in 1976 and 1980. In Huntington County, Carter received 41% in 1976 and 34% in 1980.

It really doesn't seem to be until the 1990s, and especially in the last decade that such an extreme polarization has developed. In 2000 Bush received only 51,496 votes in San Francisco, less than half of President Ford's total of 103,561. In Huntington County, John Kerry only received 3,877 votes in 2004, again nearly half of President Carter's total of 6,515 in 1976.

My point is that all this "pro-America" and "anti-American" talk is not really trying to divide us - it already has, politically speaking. Palin and Bachmann are merely letting the cat out of the bag. In a society that is extremely migratory, this approach was certain to get old after awhile. What I think has occurred under the current administration is that all Americans are becoming tired of the stagnation, tired of the division and so I think that this Election Day you will see a blurring of the lines between Sarah Palin's "Real America" and "Fake America".