Criticisms of Americans for being insular, while often valid, usually fail to grasp the sheer scale of the place. Texas, the country's second largest state, is the size of Germany, Italy and Denmark combined; its population would fill Switzerland, Portugal and Ireland. Those who accuse Americans of being parochial must first concede that America is a huge parish.
New England, where I started my journey, and west Texas, where I ended it five weeks later, could be in two entirely different nations. Not only had the topography, climate and architecture radically altered, but so had the people and their attitudes towards everything from religion and government to taxes and guns.
One of the few things that has remained constant while on the road has been the ubiquity of the stars and stripes. The national flag billows everywhere. It flies from porches, hangs from store fronts and decorates the bumpers of many cars ahead of me. The interstate highway, network television and chain stores aside, the ever-present national flag has been the one constant indicator that I have remained in the same country all along.
But these demonstrations of patriotism offer little or no suggestion of which side of the political divide people are on. You are as likely to find them among Republicans as Democrats. In normal times this strong sense of national identity is the thread that keeps this diverse patchwork of states, cultures and ethnicities together. On the left are those who believe the nation is being transformed by a corporate theocracy. Trekking through the suburbs of Derry, New Hampshire, Pam and Patrick Devaney overcame their shyness to go knocking on doors in search of progressive voters. "I'm not comfortable doing this but it has to be done," said Pam. "Our democracy is at stake. This is the most important election in my lifetime."
On the right are those who fear the encroachment of secular liberalism. "I fear for this country if Kerry wins," said Burton Kephart, from Franklin, Pennsylvania, whose son Jonathan was killed in Iraq. "God has a plan for the ages. Bush will hold back the evil a little bit. He is a God-fearing man. He believes in praying to a God who hears his prayers. He's a leader."
Many Americans of course, lie in between these two extremes. Like the hotel worker in Dearborn, Michigan, weighing her opposition to abortion with her opposition to the war who was rooting for Kerry with reservations, they do not fit easily into either camp.
On these rare occasions when people are presented with the same raw data, the two camps have managed to fashion conclusions that are not just different but almost entirely contradictory. So rather than partisan arguments adjusting to take account of reality, reality is altered to suit the argument.
A recent poll, released by the Program on International Policy Attitudes, showed that the overwhelming majority of Bush supporters still believe that Iraq had ties to al-Qaeda or the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and had weapons of mass destruction or a program to develop them.
It follows that from this different understanding of the problems comes entirely polarized conclusions about the solutions. Lisa O'Neill, who lives just a few minutes away, supports Kerry and opposes the war for almost entirely the same reason. "I have an 11 and 13-year-old who could be drafted if this carries on," she said. When I called them both the day after the first debate each one thought their side had won.
The Democrats that I have met seem much more aware than Republicans that the world will be watching nervously yesterday. Indeed, Republicans seem quite bullish in their indifference. But while the rest of the world has been watching the US these past few months, the US has not been particularly interested in the rest of the world.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was