More interesting discussion about religion and politics by Russell Arben Fox and the Crooked Timber gang. What concessions should be made in the Democratic platform to make it more appealing to the red states?
Truthfully, I had to take a breather from the computer and election analysis yesterday. It was all starting to get to me. I read too many "the end times are here" blog posts, and I needed to regroup.
I am very worried that the election results reflect a culture war rather than policy differences about morality. We could probably find a resolution to the gay marriage issue. We could have different policies across the states or just call it a civil union. But was this vote more about anger at those who don't attend church regularly, who seem to have airs, who went to a private school?
The Bush and Kerry voters also seem to possess diametrically opposite views of reality. Something like 95% of Bush voters thought that economy was going great, and 90% of Kerry voters thought that the economy was in the toilet.
If there are such larger differences between the center and the coasts of our country, then there are no compromises and no solutions.
I might be wrong. I hope I am.
[Portions of the original post were deleted. This morning, I took red America's vote for Bush too personally. The resentment and hatred for the coastal states documented in recent articles rattled me.]