David Brooks -One Nation Slight Divisible
David Brooks began his essay “One Nation, Slightly Divisible” by dividing America
into two sections: “Red America”, the republicans, and “Blue America”, the democrats.
Brooks discussed the differences between the two groups. He described how “Red
America” was made up of farmers and rural communities, while “Blue America”
consisted of big cities with many stores and businesses. As Brooks looked at the red and
blue sections of the electoral map, he was interested in the reasons behind the voting
patterns. He chose two cities to represent these two sections: Franklin County in
Pennsylvania for “Red America”, and Montgomery County in Maryland for “Blue
America”. He lived in Montgomery county and spent time talking with different people
in Franklin county. Brooks began to look deeper at the reasons for the differences
between the two groups and wondered if America was really a united nation anymore.
The first reason that Brooke considered was economics. He examined his theory that
the rich and the poor have separated. The blue states had higher incomes, higher end
stores, and jobs. Brooks asked people if they agreed that money was what had divided
the U.S. Although most people greed with that statement, most did not consider
themselves the people with less, and it was the ones with less that seemed more content
with what they had. As he spent more and more time with the people, he found that it was
really not money that split the nation. .
The next idea he had was religion. He found that the percentage of people involved in
religion was higher in red states. There were more churches in Franklin, and more
people attended a weekly religious service. Even with these statistics, Brooks again found
it was not religion. He found there were still ”bad people” and problems in both cities.
Yes there were differences, but the differences didn’t seem to be enough to
into two sections: “Red America”, the republicans, and “Blue America”, the democrats.
Brooks discussed the differences between the two groups. He described how “Red
America” was made up of farmers and rural communities, while “Blue America”
consisted of big cities with many stores and businesses. As Brooks looked at the red and
blue sections of the electoral map, he was interested in the reasons behind the voting
patterns. He chose two cities to represent these two sections: Franklin County in
Pennsylvania for “Red America”, and Montgomery County in Maryland for “Blue
America”. He lived in Montgomery county and spent time talking with different people
in Franklin county. Brooks began to look deeper at the reasons for the differences
between the two groups and wondered if America was really a united nation anymore.
The first reason that Brooke considered was economics. He examined his theory that
the rich and the poor have separated. The blue states had higher incomes, higher end
stores, and jobs. Brooks asked people if they agreed that money was what had divided
the U.S. Although most people greed with that statement, most did not consider
themselves the people with less, and it was the ones with less that seemed more content
with what they had. As he spent more and more time with the people, he found that it was
really not money that split the nation. .
The next idea he had was religion. He found that the percentage of people involved in
religion was higher in red states. There were more churches in Franklin, and more
people attended a weekly religious service. Even with these statistics, Brooks again found
it was not religion. He found there were still ”bad people” and problems in both cities.
Yes there were differences, but the differences didn’t seem to be enough to