Voting By Color

Everyone in the United States has the right to vote. Everyone should vote. When you vote you get your sticker that says you voted, just like when you were little and you got a sticker from the Doctor.

What is concerning to me, and should be concerning to you, is the fact that more and more in this country we vote in blocs. It is just not healthy for a country to be as divided not just politically, but also geographically, and increasingly demographically like the United States is.

Look at an electoral map after this evening's election. The amount of red across the bottom and up the middle of the country will far surpass the blue that you will see on the West Coast, Northeast, and West Coast. I do not want to be alarmist and I am certainly not thinking that we will have any armed battles anytime soon but it is not a stretch to see that in looking at that map it could easily be a series of borders between countries. Soon with the changing demography of the Western United States this could well be the case.

An examination of the various voting blocks is troubling. Much has been made of the fact that white men now are voting at a rate of seventy five percent for Republicans. There are many theories as to why this is but the answer with the most likelihood of having the truth behind it is the combination of general frustration and isolation that white men are feeling. As low skilled labor disappears, as women now outnumber men in college, and the wage gap between men and women continually shrinks men feel threatened. Just as damaging to white men is the ever present fact that white men are the butt of all the easy jokes in our culture. It is easy to joke at this, to say that in the collective white men have had all the advantages of the last 300 years, a fact that is true. However if you are a white man today your perception is affected by your experience and that experience is consistently diminishing unless you are of a select few who have had the advantages of a strong education in a high demand skill.

While people are gnashing their teeth over this solidarity in the white vote it is interesting to note that few have anything negative to say about black citizens voting in a stronger majority for Democrats. We hear that it is natural for them to vote for President Obama, with the inference that he being black he of course deserves their votes but when you think about it this is demeaning to the very people it claims to be defending the actions of. The question is why are white men and black citizens voting in such a large bloc for one party. The answer, as it usually is, is pretty simplistic. Fear. Our political candidates have become expert on manipulating people's fear to influence there vote. These two groups are, at this time, the most easily influenced by the smallest amount of actions.

Interestingly if white men vote in a large bloc consistently and if African Americans are a vote that does not to be earned by Democrats then they will lose the ability to have legislation made for their benefit.

It is the same with swing states, that is states that swing between voting for Democrats and or Republicans. A perfect example is shown you every week when you gas up your car and see a sign that says that the gasoline you are pumping is ten percent ethanol. This is the result of one thing and one thing only. Iowa is the first state that votes in the Presidential season and Iowa where corn is king likes ethanol. Without that influence and the necessity of a candidate for President needing a good showing in Iowa this would never have happened.

Could this country become balkanized is an often asked question. For me I do not think that the answer is hard to come by. It has already happened.