"Locker Room Talk"

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Well, not locker room talk but sauna talk... A bunch of us were in the sauna at a L A FITNESS in the San Fernando Valley and were talking about politics. There was not a Trumpkin among us. That's always a good start. There were a couple of white guys in the sauna, a black guy, a couple of Asian guys, and a Latino. We marveled how comfortable we were among each other and why so many people are scared of diversity. I mused that the contiguous western states that voted for Clinton (California, Nevada, Washington, and Oregon) should secede and form a loose confederacy with Mexico. That got a lot of laughs. I added we would get Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Vegas and great beaches.

I then added the contiguous eastern states that voted for Clinton ( Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York. Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine ) could form an East America and form a loose confederacy with Canada.

The two Americas, East and West, would be part of the new American Union.

I mused that in twenty years those states that chose to remain in the Union would be fighting among themselves or trying to steal our stuff.


P.S. The humane thing would be to allow all Americans to choose which America they want to live in.

[el_bryanto]

1. This idea comes up again and again

It's hard for me to support it - I live in a town that is an island of blue in a sea of red (North Florida) - but I don't really want to move - in most ways I like my town even with the crummy politics of the surrounding areas.

But it is nice to imagine what would happen if the two Americas did split as political entites - I doubt it would just be two or three nations though - rather I suspect at least 5? North East down to DC, South East, Rust Belt and Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and Pacific. That's just off the top of my head. Hmmm - Texas may want to be their own nation as well.

Bryant

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. Trump is certainly exacerbating the centrifugal forces. I don't see it ending well.

America is/was not without problems. But when you stop to think how large we are and how diverse we do a decent job of working out out our differences and governing ourselves.

I don't know how I feel about all this working class anger and nostalgia. My dad had a ninth grade education. He was effectively emancipated at fifteen years old when he was working as a stevedore. I never heard him make a racist comment, a homophobic comment, or a generally bigoted comment and he never scapegoated other groups because he only had a ninth grade education. That was rare from someone of his generation.

[njcpa1978]

3. The 'WHY' of diversity.

While a CPA, I have an undergraduate degree in Sociology. One of my professors said we would never have true integration in the US. until we have more multiracial and multicultural marriages. In effect we have that type of diversity on the East and West coasts. I can go to a Halal butcher, a Jewish deli, a Greek, Italian, Indian and Egyptian restaurant all within minutes of my house. Sorry Iowa, but when you go to 'Grandma's Home Cooking', whenever you go out, you live in a bubble that isolates you from the diversity that I enjoy. Along with that diversity, comes the realization of how much more, that people are similar than how they are different. We are not afraid of ??? when we have Muslim,Black,Indian, Hebrew, Asian, Gay, Trans co-workers. Our church is the center for a multi-faith Thanksgiving service. Again a way to interact and breakdown the walls of fear.

Vive la différence!

[meow2u3]

4. Too bad I'm stuck in Pennsylvania until August

I'd like to go back to New York, where I was born and raised, but it's too expensive for someone on a fixed income to live on.

I'd be destitute unless I can find a job where I don't have to be on my feet all the time.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. I was born in NYC, raised in FL, and now live in SoCal

I was positive Hillary would win Florida, me culpa, and devastated when she didn't. I thought so much more of my former fellow Floridians. I have no desire to go back there, even on a visit.