John Kerry and John Edwards attempted throughout their campaign to drive home the concept of “Two Americas.” In their formulation, the country had been separated into two factions based upon socioeconomic factors like health care and the tax cut for the wealthiest of Americans. If there is anything this election has proven, it is (fittingly) that Kerry and Edwards were simultaneously both right and wrong. Two Americas are indeed developing, but the split is ideological, rather than economic.

This is considerably more distressing than the situation Kerry and Edwards described. Socioeconomic problems can be at least partially ameliorated through government intervention. Ideological differences are exponentially more difficult to reconcile, and the gap between viewpoints is only getting wider.

Liberals and conservatives are holding each other in increasingly high levels of contempt, and cooperation is getting to be impossible. This intense lack of cohesion is unprecedented, and it’s coming to a head. One must admit, whether you agree with them or not, that the policies of the current administration have only served to drive the wedge further between liberals and conservatives.

The election campaign exacerbated that split, polarizing the country into distinct and diametrically opposed groups. People from each group are making statements beginning with telling phrases like “In my America” that simply take potshots at the other side. When did we stop sharing this country?

Liberals and conservatives both have to realize that we’re in this together. Calmly allowing this country’s slow death to petty partisanship simply so you can have the satisfaction of saying “I told you so,” is morally reprehensible. We have to work together to achieve consensus. I fear for the future otherwise.

Anthony Cyr

Senior

Chemical Engineering