Right now, the United States is deeply divided.  There are two Americas a traditional America and an urban America and each America has its own distinct set of values and an unhealthy contempt for the other.  Both sides are polarized, and moderates tend to be frowned upon in both places.  Traditional America strongly supports rugged individualism, religious values and nationalism.  Urban America believes more in collectivism, secularism and internationalism.  Traditional America dominates old media, such as talk radio, whereas urban America dominates the blogosphere, Hollywood and network news.  These differences, and the mistrust of the other side are tearing us apart as a nation and preventing us as a country from pursuing the most rational and beneficial policies for all Americans.

I live in San Francisco, but I side more with traditional America, so the problems on both sides are clear to me.  More than anything, urban liberals have a deep seeded fear of religion and religious people.  Their sense of morality is systemic rather than religious, and it prods them to try to institutionalize remedies for past injustices.  Their fear of repeating those injustices leads them to advocate for, and often pass, legislation that gives preferential treatment to those who were once downtrodden.  Affirmative action, bilingual education and "affordable housing" programs (many of which led to subprime mortgages) are past examples.  Current examples include the DREAM Act, universal healthcare, gay marriage and opposition to laws against sex offenders such as Megan's Law.  Close to dogma among urban liberals is the woman's "right" to abort, often taken to the extreme so as to allow late term and partial birth abortions, to the point of denying treatment to babies born during intended abortions (as Obama did in the Illinois State Senate).  Also close to dogma is the idea of comprehensive sex education in schools.  In many respects, urban America has more in common with Western Europe than with the middle of our country.

Traditional Americans typically respond very adversely to these types of "progressive" ideas, and often their responses reflect this backlash.  Worried about the diminishing role of religious values in public life, traditional Americans try to preempt progressives by institutionalizing these values.  Examples include support for a constitutional amendment against gay marriage, English only policies and creationism being taught in public schools.  Rather than comprehensive sex education in schools, traditional America tries to make "abstinence only" sex education the law of the land.  In essence, in order to heed off unpalatable "progressive" values, traditional America has committed the sin of using the government and the law to impose their values in order to prevent those institutions from being used to impose upon them "progressive" values.

At the heart of the problem is big government and the fact that both sides are actively using government to impose their values on society.  The left started the ball rolling in the 1960s, and over time, the right has learned how to use the government in exactly the same way.  In both cases, this type of big government intrusion is a bad thing and it's polarizing our nation.  At the heart of the problem is the Pandora's Box that was opened by judges making legislative decisions from the bench.  Roe v. Wade is at its root a terrible decision because it judicially created a Constitutional right to abortion, a right that is written nowhere in the Constitution.

 The idea of a "separation of Church and State," has been argued in courts and taught in schools for so long that most believe it is a First Amendment right, a right which is at the heart of the secular-progressive movement.  However, the Amendment reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."  In other words, everyone can worship freely, but the State will not establish its own religion (as did England with the Church of England) or be subservient to the interests of a religious leader such as the Pope.  How does that cover whether there can be prayer in schools or if "Under God" can be in the Pledge?  These judicially imposed, subjective standards have clearly led to a backlash.

The problem here is not that people have different views and philosophies, its that they try to impose them on others.  The left fears Sarah Palin because they think she will impose her "crazy religious values" onto society.  The right is equally fearful that Democratic victories will lead to the imposition of more progressive values onto society.  It is clear as a country that on both sides, big government is the problem.  People in this country should be allowed to live, wherever they are, according to their own values.  Government at all levels, needs to return to the role that the founders intended for it, to make laws and protect us from enemies while staying out of our daily lives.