Demographics

Connie Du Toit is writing about red america. She covers the culture and ethnic makeup of her town in Texas here. Similarly her thoughts about thinking conservatives are here.

In the second essay she talks about conservative thought. She points out that the vast majority of the people in this country are conservatives of some type or other. Similarly we all have areas where we would like to be "progressive." I think this is really at the heart of the great political divide in this country.

The "liberals" are are also conservatives. They want to conserve the New Deal policies of the welfare system for instance. They want to conserve the environment. The right are conservatives too of course. We want to conserve American industry. We want to conserve traditional American moral values.

Similarly we both want progress in some areas. The right wants progress that applies free market mechanics to traditionally expensive government policies in order to boost efficiency and reduce waste. The left wants progress in social areas like racial equity. They also want government be in the business of actively helping people.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could get everyone into a room and talk? Without the craziness so we could work out a way that everyone is happy? Yeah but I doubt it will ever happen.