So I'm not going to pull out the various statistics, because I'm sure we're all aware by this point. But basically, the US is splitting up more and more into different nations. You have political polarisation, but this is more and more also coinciding with economic polarisation (areas that are contributing a lot to GDP and are connected with the world economy vs everywhere else), geographic polarisation (city vs country), cultural polarisation (educated vs less educated), religious polarisation (various forms of (politicised?) Christianity vs everything else) and even ethnic polarisation. Those different groups are more and more consuming different news and interpreting them in different ways. The world is a very different place depending on which side you ask. Even America is a very different place depending on which side you ask. There seems to be less and less that those sides can agree on, and more and more stuff that can be repurposed as a new front in this conflict.
So far, so trodden out. But if this trend continues, and elections continue to become the main instances of a larger culture war going on, fought out with increasing rancour and occasional instances of violence... how much longer can the US continue to exist as one nation? How do you see this play out in the future? Will there be some sort of cataclysmic event, or will this turn around somehow?
And if it turns around, what do you think would have to happen? What sort of event, or what sort of leader, would be required to bring all these groups back together again?
As for my own view... I'm really unsure at this point. It's hard for me to imagine the US actually falling apart, but it's equally hard for me to imagine a way for these trends to be reversed. That's sorta why I'm asking for opinions.
