inner longshoreman

lots of americans like to buy products that shout, "i'm large. i'm loud. i'm ready for anything," such as army assault vehicles lightly disguised as cars, or outdoor grills the size of small kitchens, or arnold schwarzenegger. david brooks, a new york times columnist, calls this "getting in touch with your inner longshoreman" ... in 1999, gertrude himmelfarb, a social historian, argued that america is becoming "one nation, two cultures." one is religious, puritanical, family-centred and somewhat conformist. the other is tolerant, hedonistic, secular, predominantly single and celebrates multiculturalism. these value judgments are the best predictor of political affiliation, far better than wealth or income ... as pete du pont, a former governor of delaware, pointed out, a map showing the sales and rentals of porn movies bore an eerie resemblance to the map of the 2000 election results. america, it is said, can live together because americans live apart. the two cultures occupy different worlds. traditionalists are concentrated in a great l-shape on the map, the spine of the rockies forming its vertical arm, its horizontal one cutting a swathe through the south.