The collision between mainstream and Countercultural values lies at the epicenter of the red state/blue state divide

With adherents of the Counterculture moving off the campuses and into the rest of society, the values they brought with them began to be institutionalized.

At the same time, people who had not been adherents of The Movement began to feel pushed aside by the new “elites” in academia, the media, and government.

This sense among more traditional Americans was picked up, articulated, and given intellectual structure by a rapidly-rising corps of conservative commentators. After a time, a new wave of conservatism swept the country, dividing it along the lines of what we now know as “culture wars” between states that were shown as red or blue on Presidential election maps.

This division has brought out the many of the more problematic tendencies of both sides.

More Specifics

With increased institutionalization, many of the less appealing aspects of the Counterculture became accentuated.

Feeling an absence of connection, many Americans have simply tuned out the majority of our intelligentsia.

Having lost connection with more intellectual views, some Americans have also lost a sense of what's most uniquely and valuably American.