Rural white Protestant America’s fear and loathing of cities is a theme of our history that stretches through centuries. It extends from Jefferson to Palin, and from the Know-Nothings to the 1920s KKK to the opposition to the Civil Rights Movement. I’m not sure it has ever been more pronounced than it is today. Why?
Because, in a knowledge-based and globalized economy, the urban areas are thriving, and the rural areas are not. An economic rationale has thus been added to the usual cultural resentment, which is based on the belief that only white Protestants are real Americans, and that everyone else is a dangerous interloper seeking wealth and power at their expense.
In a sense this is silly, of course; the allegedly purely American culture they embrace with such fervor has cosmopolitan roots. To point out two examples, cowboys and the culture around them are largely derived from Mexico, and country music has its inspiration in a variety of sources, including music created by the descendants of slaves. In addition, would the real Americans really want to live in a world without ethnic food? Probably not.
Regardless of the thinness of the rationale, however, the divide persists, and becomes more dangerous by the day. The Democrats will have to find a way to transcend it if they want to win power as well as office.