America vs. America: You decide?

By Editorial

Sen. John McCain's senior advisor Nancy Pfotenhauer recently commented to MSNBC on the political campaign in Virginia, "As a proud resident of Oakton, Va., I can tell you that the Democrats have just come in from the District of Columbia and moved into northern Virginia."

She continued, "And that's really what you see there. But the rest of the state, real Virginia, if you will, I think will be very responsive to Sen. McCain's message."

This statement has caused pundits around the country to ponder the question, what constitutes "real" America?

This sort of divisive language is certainly nothing new, but it says something important about how Americans see each other.

Constructing the image of "the Other" is far more convenient than rational debate between opposing sides.

Within the context of our national dialogue, the idea of two Americas has been applied to values and economics.

During the 2004 presidential primary campaign, Sen. John Edwards first introduced the two Americas during a speech.

"Today, under George W. Bush, there are two Americas, not one: One America that does the work, another that reaps the reward. One America that pays the taxes, another America that gets the tax breaks," he said.

Edwards continued, "One America -- middle-class America -- whose needs Washington has long forgotten, another America -- narrow-interest America -- whose every wish is Washington's command. One America that is struggling to get by, another America that can buy anything it wants, even a Congress and a president."

Bill Maher, on the Daily Show, also referred to two Americas, one of them typified by metropolitan liberals with progressive agendas and the other by regressive rednecks holding our country back.

McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have used the two Americas argument to distinguish between patriotic America and un-American America.

Different groups use the model differently to suit their purposes, creating headaches and confusion for Americans everywhere.

The fact of the matter is that while there are regional differences characterized by certain changes in values and culture, to divide America in two is a dangerous challenge to the American legacy.

Defining what it means to be an American has been a tricky dilemma since the founding days of our Republic, but the cultural divide we see in America today is unprecedented.

America, and being American, is a complicated and constantly evolving idea that fellow members of the community should not attempt to simplify in this way.

At the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Barack Obama delivered a speech in which he said, "There's not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America. There's the United States of America."

The pundits who tell us differently do us all a great disservice. America's diversity is an ideal to be embraced.

Even in the time of this decisive election, we should elect the candidate that understands our ideal of unity.

It's not easy, but in accepting the diversity of America, we can find one America.