Look at any red and blue map of the U.S. It will show which political party dominates in each county across the country. It will also show the extent of the political and cultural divide of the nation. The mid-term election results are clear. A large number of Republican districts flipped in favor of the Democrats who will control the House. The Senate Republicans picked up seats, continuing their majority. The map won't tell the whole story, but it is a start.
If we allocated congressional seats based on territory instead of population, the Democrats would not stand a chance, even in California. But, we don’t. It is normal for the President’s party to lose big in the mid-term elections. It happens to the best of them. What is so striking, however, is the continued divide between the heartland and the two coasts, between the rural areas and the metropoles, between the highly educated and the less highly educated sections of the country, between the highly skilled work sites and those losing jobs in low skilled areas.
The new Congress will seat over 100 women, 25 will be under 40 years old, and two will be under 30 years old. The Congress will be the most diverse in history, with the first Native American women, about 27% people of color, and Muslims. The average age of House members will be 10 years younger than the last Congress.[i] Change is on the way.
Large metropolitan areas and the ex-urbs’ issues differ from those of the heartland. The center of the country and rural areas in general still does not think that they have their fair share of the American dream. The question remains about how well the coastal Democrats can relate to and do something for those in the middle of the country and rural areas. On January 3, 2019, the slog will begin anew, but to what end.
A recent national survey confirmed the depth of the divide: most Democrats think the Republicans are racists and sexists and most Republicans think Democrats are ignorant.[ii] That does not bode well for attempts to bring the nation together to work for the common good.
Mid-America, bombarded with the identity politics of the coasts, which it dislikes, and change that is too rapid to absorb is straining local institutions: schools, churches, and civic groups cannot keep up, so they dig in to preserve what once was. They could use some jobs. Amazon, however, chose to put their two new “headquarters” facilities in coastal metropolitan areas: Crystal City, Virginia, across from DC, and in Long Island City in Queens, New York. Those two facilities expect to hire 25,000 employees each. To be fair, its unlikely Amazon could find 50,000 high tech employees in one spot in the heartland. This continues a trend. Seventy-two percent of all new jobs created since the great recession has been in dense urban areas.[iii] In smaller cities, employment opportunity has decreased.
The population spread across the country divides us even more. Nine states account for 50% of the population.[iv] The 82 Senators, who represent the other 50% of the population, control what happens in the Senate. As a result, DC accomplishes little and respect for major institutions continues to dwindle.[v]
Cable-news doesn’t even try to hide its bias or its agenda of maintaining the divide. Sean Hannity, when discussing the late-vote counting in some states on his Fox News show implied that ballots still to be counted were “found” by corrupt officials trying to ensure a Democratic victory. When referring to the Senate races, he stated; “We won those races.”[vi] He is the “journalist” who spoke at Trump campaign rallies during the mid-terms. Hannity is not the only person creating the divide. Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC is as strong in his partisanship for the left as Hannity is for the right. Oddly, CNN appears to be the middle-of-the-road cable news channel.
The Democratic leadership already has a list of 85-100 investigations into the Trump administration. Those few that deal with corruption and malfeasance are legitimate. The party, however, is acting like a sore winner. They give every indication that they want to make Trump suffer rather than accomplishing positive things for the country. If they have any interest in winning the 2020 election they need to deliver practical programs to the people who need help. I doubt that an “I hate Trump” agenda will win the day.
It would be helpful if Congress concentrated on rebuilding the infrastructure of the country, which is falling apart more and more every day. Bridges need rebuilding, the grid is antiquated, the water and sewer systems are crumbling, the roads are giant potholes, and transportation systems inadequate. The nation’s healthcare and education systems need to catch up with the rest of the industrial world. We need a national strategy for AI. These types of programs put people to work, increase tax revenues, improve local economies and help us keep our competitive edge in the global economy.
The majority of people can get behind these types of programs. Action in these areas will show that those inside the beltway can achieve bipartisanship and can help the heartland. I suspect that the new, younger, and more diverse members of Congress will demand action from the old guard in leadership positions. Some have already protested outside leadership offices. The next two years should be interesting times.
[i] NPR -11/08/2018
[ii] Axios – Survey Monkey Online Poll 10/30-11/2/2018 – 11/12/2018
[iii] Clara Hendrickson, Mark Muro, William Galston – Countering the geography of discontent: Strategies for left behind places – Brookings Institute – November 2018
[iv] California, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Georgia, and Florida – US Census, 2000
[v] Confidence in Institutions – Annual Survey – Gallup – 2018
