Town and country

As an antidote to those who worry about where countries such as China, India, Russia and Iran are headed, to name just four, the FT gives air time this morning (at reference 1) to a clutch of books about how the US is in trouble, one of which is to be found at reference 2. The author of this last, one Barbara Walter, was born in Brooklyn but I have yet to track down her present home and affiliation. 

Part of the trouble is an even split between town and country, where town and country have very different views on how things should be done and when one is in power the other is able to block more or less anything the one wants to do. Strictly partisan, without much regard to the rights and wrongs of the issues in question.

From where I associate to the electoral map of this country (in the sense of nation) where the split between Labour and Conservative used to be very much a matter of town and country (in the sense of fields and farms), although that has been a bit blurred, hopefully temporarily, by Conservative inroads into the town.

I have also read that Iran and Afghanistan are also in the grip of something of the sort, with the reactionary religious being country bred. Although unlike in the US, these reactionary religious have the people of the towns firmly under their control.

In any event, all very depressing. Let's hope that those who are chomping away at the foundations of our own democracy, here in the UK, pay heed: it might be the oldest democracy in the world, but that is no guarantee of the life to come.

References

Reference 1: Is America heading for civil war: a clutch of books makes an alarmingly persuasive case that the warning lights are flashing redder than at any point since 1861 - Edward Luce, Financial Times - 2022.

Reference 2: How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them - Barbara F Walter - 2022.

Reference 3: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/. With thanks to Bing and Pinterest for the image above.