---

Liberals whose major interests were cultural and social often ended up in alliances with anti-capitalists. Some found themselves making excuses for communism while others joined the more economically minded followers of Keynes or the devotees of the Swedish model (the 'third way' of its time). Neither alliance met with much success Russian tanks turned...up in Eastern European cities whenever political liberty threatened to break out, there was that awkward secret speech, and threats to bury the capitalist West followed the slow economic collapse...

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Red-Blue Divide
Of all the forces governing this campaign, the greatest may not be the candidates themselves or the jolt of external events but something far more basic: The split personality of the US electorate. The election is being played out on a political landscape more sharply - and evenly - divided than any other in generations.
The red-blue divide, as it has come to be known, entered public consciousness in the 2000 election, when the nation split down the middle between George W. Bush and Al Gore. The color-coded electoral map told a blunt geographic tale: Mr. Bush's red swept across the South, the Great Plains, and most of the Rocky Mountain West, while Mr. Gore's blue covered almost all of New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the West Coast. The dramatic results recast the United States as a bipolar, 50-50 nation, in which where one lived translated into differences in culture, values - and partisan allegiance.
• The Christian Science Monitor, a series inside red-and-blue America [part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5]
• · See Also How to strengthen the 2-party system Have you ever been to a party where it's ok to talk politics?
• · · See Also What is at stake in Australia’s History Wars (in 10 parts)
• · · · See Also Carr attacked over planning debacle [Talk about the story becoming the story History ]
• · · · · See Also Advising Singers To Sing (Not Talk Politics)
• · · · · · · Hypocrisy is an extraordinary spectator sport No Child Left Behind Act [ http://dox.media2.org/barista/ ]