Political Culture

I must agree with Alyse, Sarah and Emily. The Political Culture in America is very conflictual. With the millions of people living in America it is very much impossible for our political culture to not be conflictual. Thomas Frank wrote in his book several examples on how our political culture is conflictual. In fact, Frank argued that, "A red-stater is loyal. This is the part of the country that fills the army's ranks and defends the flag against all comers. While the European-minded know-it-alls of blue land waited only a short time after 9/11 to commence blaming America for the tragedy, the story goes, sturdy red-staters stepped forward unhesitatingly to serve their country one more time" (Frank 23). The nation had conflict on what to do after 9/11. This is one of our nation's most tragic events in our history, and we had conflict over what we should have done. The people in the red states went to the military while the people in the blue states started to blame America for the terrorist attack. Also, according to Brooks, "Red America is traditional, religious, self-disciplined, and patriotic. Blue America is modern, secular, self-expressive, and discomfited by blatant displays of patriotism" (Brooks). Our political culture is based on our lifestyle. The people in red states live a different lifestyle than the people in the blue states. This will make the people in the red states have different political beliefs than the people in the blue states. The people in blue states tend to not care for religion while the people in the red states tend to not really value a totally civil society or the freedom of religion (in order to spread Christianity) or true equality like making gay marriage a right. The people in the red states might like to protest the government more than the people in blue states. There will always be conflict between the red and blue states. As long as there are different lifestyles, there will always be red states and blue states which will make our political culture conflictual.