"In politics we learn the most from those who disagree with us..."

"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived, and dishonest; but the myth--persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy




Purple Nation? What's that? Good question.

Neither Red nor Blue. In other words, not knee-jerk liberal Democrat or jerk Republican. But certainly not some foggy third way either.

In recent years partisan politics in America has become superimposed on cultural identity and life style choices. You know - whether you go to church or not, or whether you drive a Volvo or a pickup, or where you live. This promotes a false political consciousness that we hope to remedy here.

There are both myths and truths to this Red-Blue dichotomy and we'd like to distinguish between the two. So, please, read on, join the discussion, contribute your point of view.

Diversity of opinion is encouraged...

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Return to Red vs. Blue - With a Vengeance

It's remarkable, though not surprising, how quickly Obama and Rahm Emanuel got back on track with Red vs. Blue politics. (I'm not sure they ever left, as the campaign promises of bipartisanship and compromise were pretty hollow.)

As this blog has argued persistently, red and blue politics is rooted in far more than campaign politics. In addition, the two parties and the media thrive off partisan conflict, so the temptation to carry that battle directly to the media was too powerful to resist for the Obama administration. The attack on Fox and talk radio are attempts to diminish the appeal of these media outlets while heightening the divisions between alternative and mainstream media.

Voters should not be fooled by this and my guess is that most independents are not. I also suspect the media see little to gain by moving the battleground away from politics to their home field. If an administration can de-legitimize one network, why not another? This is so much white noise.

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