And don't forget the Judeo-Christian-values-packed Lord of the Rings sweeping the Oscars. It's been a pretty good week for that sort of thing.

The real question is how long will "flyover country" continue to provide floatation for the Liberal coastal regions (and their State University enclaves) in the cess pool the coastal urban regions have produced, and instead decide to cut 'em lose to sink into their own mess. (I live in the Upper Left Washington. Exclude what lives inside the borders Seattle and works in Olympia and this would be a solidly "red" state, for example.)

Which state will be the first to declare that it will no longer honor marriage licenses issued in California, for example?

What sort of bizarro world America is John Kerry running for President of that he can't answer "Is God on America's side?" with a simple "Yes."? (see Drudge's report from the Sunday Democratic debate). I don't care what you think in your heart of hearts, if you have any political sense that's all you say, and wait for the next question.

What did New York state and Georgia EVER have in common ?
Yet Lincoln was willing to engage in a bloodbath to keep the South.
A few gay marriages aren't going to overcome the thrills of interstate commerce.

As for cutting loose the coasts: California, at least, would be better off without the rest of the US, at least in a post-Cold War world.
If nothing else, they could then solve their immigrant problem.

Timothy - true, but Hollywood will say LOTR won due to special effects and acting, not the story line.
Michael - If CA separates then wouldn't we be the immigrants trying to move in?

Maybe RETURN OF THE KING didn't win for its values (it won for its box-office at least as much as its special effects) but at least Peter Jackson didn't find it necessary to APOLOGIZE for its values, as Robert Zemeckis did for FORREST GUMP a few years back. That might not be much, but it's something.

Michael:

I'd prefer purges, but why would the Red States want territory filled with Blue values?

AWW:

Yes, but it could be handled in an orderly and legal manner, and in the meantime, the border with Mexico could be closed to illegals.

oj:

Whatever gave you the idea that the American states, going back to when they were colonies, were homogeneous ?
There have always been differences of opinion and culture, far more so in the past than now.

Further, assume that the Red and Blue states DO part ways. What happens in thirty years when Texas and Florida are Blue ? Reduce the US some more ?

Not on significant issues.

More likely, CA and NY will become Red thanks to Catholic Latino immigrants.

I'm wondering why they stopped making these in the first place (ok, I'm not really, but)... Has a major motion picture based on the Bible ever lost money?

This is pretty damned cavalier talk about what would be a catastrophe for human civilization on a par with a massive meteor strike.

If a unified US is not there to fight for liberty on this planet, who will? Europe? China? Latin America?

If that which some of you seem to casually ponder above were to come to pass, it would bring to the fore a global meme that human liberty may have been merely a passing phase, great for North America at a certain time, just like the Ming dynasty was great for China at a certain time, but nothing more than that.

There are already enough fat and happy Westeners who feel precisely that. (Unless, of course, John Ashcroft is involved, in which case their liberty is precious beyond measure. Take him and Bush out of the picture, and they will happily discard tht liberty for themselves and the rest of us, if it makes them feel good and makes the UN happy.)

Do we need to treat the very backbone of liberty on this planet as casually as they do?

The United States (as a national entity) has probably reached the breaking point of its social cohesion.

White flight has reached truly continental proportions and I see no end in sight. This country will be reconfigured along racial and
ideological lines, that would make the differences
between the Virginia Planters, and New England
Businessmen look non-existent.

I grew up in a place and an era when the Christian values that Orrin touts so highly dominated civil society.

We were the poorest, the least free, the sickest, the meanest, the most violent, the most ignorant part of the country.

Not all of that was attributable to Christianity, but a lot of it was.

Now I live in what the historian Gavan Daws has described, accurately, as "the most successful multiethnic society in the history of mankind."

I know which one I like better.

Yes, but you had to move a long way to get away from the negroes.

Harry-

When did you live in the West Village?

OJ: More likely, CA and NY will become Red thanks to Catholic Latino immigrants.

Right, and New England will become Red thanks to Catholic Canadian immigrants.

(When did the media manage to pull off this stunt where all the Midwestern and Southern Conservatives are referred to as Red America? We hate Commies down here)

"This is pretty damned cavalier talk about what would be a catastrophe for human civilization on a par with a massive meteor strike."

It is all talk, there isn't going to be a Red/Blue state split, or purges, or any other apocalyptic scenario from OJ's fevered imagination. The center will hold. We are prosperous and we are happy, as another article on this blog explains. No way are we going to end up like Yugoslavia.

Robert:

We can dream, can't we?

OJ -- If it ever did happen, New Hampshire would not find itself in Red America.

Like we couldn't take out MA and ME in about an hour...

We've already got you surrounded, Butch.

Yonder are the Massachussetans. They were bought for seven pounds and ten pence a man. Are you worth more? Prove it! Tonight the American flag floats from yonder hill or Dr. Judd sleeps a widow!

A blog widow, certainly.

The technical term is blodow--and if they continue the blog it becomes a widlog

7 pounds tenpence?

Apparently you aren't familiar with today's MA state employee unions...

Funny thing about the terms "Red" and Blue".

According to US military color-coding during the Cold War:

BLUE = FRIENDLIES, i.e. US

RED = *ENEMY*