[herio]

From a non US outsiders perspective I do have to say that it looks like the US civil war never really ended. The country is still largely divided along the same lines (with maybe California as a third entity) and I don't really see it reconciling any time soon.

Kind of like Belgium over here in Europe, which is usually say is not so much a country as it is a cold civil war :)

[nradov]

The geographic lines of division today have changed tremendously since the Civil War. The divide is now more rural versus urban rather than north versus south. In the last presidential election rural California was mostly "red" while southern cities were mostly "blue".

https://brilliantmaps.com/2020-county-election-map/

[anoonmoose]

California's /land/ was mostly red...in terms of actual people it was 2:1 voting blue:red. Land doesn't vote.

[amanaplanacanal]

Land does vote in the senate though.

[_moof]

I thought this too until I looked at US presidential electoral maps for the past century, and then ran across a study of political division in the US that showed a dramatic increase beginning around 1980. (Don't have a link handy unfortunately.) It seems the degree and nature of division in the US really has changed in a fundamental way.

[boppo]

I'm totally unfamiliar with Belgium. Can you point me to something illustrative? That sounds quite interesting.