re: The reason we are so divided

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When Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008 and again in 2004, the majority of Middle America disagreed with the choice the nation made for President. But what happened had happened and we all just lived with it.

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Not to hijack your thread but the fact that lightning didn't strike your keyboard the moment you typed this is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that there is no God. Are you fricking kidding me? You "all just lived with it"?! Holy revisionist history Batman!

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The reason we are so divided

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Sanity vs insanity.

Objective and observable reality vs things that sound good.

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With all that being said, I enjoy pretty much everything I listed.

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I must admit, that if I just listed out my hobbies and other things that I enjoy, without listing anything else about me, people with think that I am the archetype of Progressive, metrosexual, urban dwelling males.

There was one day two weeks ago where I went to a spin class, enjoyed a latte from a "fair trade" coffee shop, ate at an American/Sushi fusion place, and capped the night off with craft beer. Going off that day's description people would assume I have a hyphenated last name.

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Until the media stops being in the tank for the democrats. The division will continue.

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That's exactly it.

NYC-DC-LA-SF: Those 4 metros became more liberal between 2012 and 2016. They voted for Obama over Romney by a +33.9% margin... yet shifted even more to the left in 2016, voting for Hillary over Trump by +37.0%.

Meanwhile the rest of America shifted the opposite direction. The rest of America voted for Romney over Obama by a mere 0.3% in 2012... but in 2016 voted for Trump over Hillary by 2.9%

So the Coastal Elites shifted to the Left by 3.1%
While the rest of America shifted to the Right by 2.6%.

These crazies put out 99% of media this country consumes. THEY are the one that are completely out of touch with the rest of America, yet they tell us we're the crazy ones.

They had no idea that Middle America had become fed up with the Liberal Agenda because they had failed to report truth for 8 years. They had no idea that Trump was playing well to a lot of former Obama voters, because they failed to report that during the campaign.

So when America wakes up to find Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, etc. all voting for Trump, the media is in such shock and the Coastal Elites immediately conclude there is no way that really happened.

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Whittling it down to "coastal" isn't all that accurate. For the most part, Clinton won every major metropolitan city, not just the coastal ones

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But its the Coastal ones that vote Democrat by insane margins:

Hillary won metro New York by 28.4%
Hillary won metro Los Angeles by 38.8%
Hillary won metro Washington DC by 41.7%
Hillary won metro San Francisco by 60.5% (!)

If you get away from the coasts, the Democrats still typically win the big metros, but its by much smaller margins.

Even a liberal city like Denver is not nearly as lopsided as the coastal cities. Denver voted for Obama over Romney by +13.3%. It voted for Hillary over Trump by 17.3%. Even Detroit only went Democrat by about 20%. It's not anything like the 30-40% margins the Democrats rack up on the coasts.

The difference between living in metro Detroit and living in metro San Fracisco, is that in Detroit its mostly Democrats but everyone (outside of the very urban areas at least) knows plenty of Republicans. In San Francisco, no one has ever heard or seen of a Republican. And the problem is that it is these extreme coastal locations that are forcing their culture on to the rest of American through media.

There are plenty of big metros that vote 50/50 or even majority GOP. Cincinnati, Nashville, Charlotte, Houston, Dallas, Jacksonvile, Indianapolis, Phoenix, etc. are actually majority GOP voters if you take the entire metro area.

Birmingham is arguably the most conservative major metro in America (Oklahoma City is probably slightly ahead). Yet in Birmingham Trump only won by 21.2%. That means metro Birmingham is far more closer to what is "normal" in this country than any of those coastal cities.

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And for every "coastal elite" that ignored middle America and its concerns, there is someone in Middle America that ignores the "coastal elite" and its concerns.

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This is completely false. Unless a person in Middle America chooses to live as a recluse, we are made very aware of how the Coastal Elites think and act culturally. It's on every tv show. It's in every movie. Most of our news is handed to us once being filtered through the Coastal way of thinking.

We are constantly bombarded with "their side of the argument." But if you live in San Francisco, the way a person thinks in a place like Abilene, Texas is as foreign to them as someone from Mars would be. There are no avenues for these coastal elites to even start to understand why Middle America thinks the way it thinks.

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Both sides need to get out of their bubble more.

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I've visited 45 states, 30+ countries, on 4 continents. I've been to 52 of the 54 metro areas with at least 1 million people, and most of those at least 5 or 6 times. I've been to New York on probably 2 dozen occasions and typically choose to stay in areas like the East or West Village or the Upper West side, which are far off the typical tourist's path.

I have found that people who live in a Coastal bubble like New York or San Francisco are far more ignorant than your typical Middle American. I'm about as Conservative as anyone could possibly be. Yet I try when talking to folks who are liberal to understand their world view. Typically once a person from those Coastal areas here's I vote Republican, I'm stereotyped before I can say another word.

its about vibrations.

you are lower vibration folks, scare tactics manipulate your lower chakra.
your motivation is power and money. me me me is your mantra.

we libs are able to feel and feel beyond our little mortal bodies, into the infinite One. love and compassion rule us. we are all in this together.

Hillary is not one of us.

PS. I love you.

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its about vibrations.

you are lower vibration folks, scare tactics manipulate your lower chakra.
your motivation is power and money. me me me is your mantra.

we libs are able to feel and feel beyond our little mortal bodies, into the infinite One. love and compassion rule us. we are all in this together.

Hillary is not one of us.

PS. I love you.

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Typically once a person from those Coastal areas here's I vote Republican, I'm stereotyped before I can say another word.

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I'm pretty liberal and live in suburban Birmingham. I deal with those same stereotypes everyday. It's even worse when I get out in the rural areas of the state. I'm like an alien to some of those people.


And my comment about needing to get out of bubbles wasn't directed at you, specifically.

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I wish more people would just turn off the lib media, stop calling them mainstream too btw. They only have power if you give it to them

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Bingo... if we just turn off their channels, don't click their links, read their papers or go on to their radio stations, sooner or later, the money dries up and they melt and evaporate.