Free Essay

Precis

In: English and Literature

Submitted By clapointe
Words 911
Pages 4
Carter LaPointe
Professor Barter
EH 124009
15 February 2016
Precis Final Draft
Part I: “The Situation”
Division is something that we can all agree upon when it comes to American politics. It is constantly stated in the media the never-ending battle between Republicans and Democrats fighting for advantage in the Senate, the House of Representatives, and The White House. They look to the American civilians to side with them by selling their ideas to help improve the quality and the living of the country for votes to get them into office. Usually, however, when these candidates get into office, they end up spending most of their time arguing with their opposing party instead of coming up with solutions to improve our country. We can conclude that our country’s corrupt political system does example division, but is that the same for the American people themselves. Columnist and Editor, David Brooks, seems to think so in his article called, One Nation, Slightly Divisible. David Brooks is a long-term columnist for “The New York Times” and an editor for “Newsweek” and “The Atlantic” (The New York Times). Written between 2000 and 2001 in Maryland, David Brooks explains the differences of two groups the American civilian are placed into based off their lifestyle habits. Brooks does this by separating American citizens into two groups called “Red States” and “Blue States.” Brooks uses an example of two counties in Maryland, Montgomery County and Franklin County. These counties are next to each other, but the majority of the civilians in one county have different cultural, religious, political, and social views compared to the other county. David Brooks considers himself a moderate conservative (Editors of The Encyclopedia Britannica) living in a “Blue State” society, which is Montgomery County (Brooks; 524). What is consisted in the article is David Brooks’ opinions and personal experiences between the two groups. He determines his mostly negative opinions of the two groups about how they are different from the other one.

Part II: “The Issue”
The article is depicted of David Brooks describing the two groups, which explains the opposites these groups contain. One example he uses is the difference in religion. Comparing the differences based on religion, Red Americans he says are more traditionalist Christians and evangelicals, while Blue Americans are more diverse in religion. Brooks states, “You’ll rarely see a Christmas store in Blue America, but in Red America, even in July, you’ll come upon stores selling fake Christmas trees, wreath-spoons, and little snow-covered villages (Brooks; 524).”
Another example includes Brooks looking at an economical point of view for the two groups. Without a doubt, he favors Blue State society being much wealthier and higher educated than Red State society. He calculates the average household incomes for the two, saying that 51% of Blue State Americans in Montgomery County have an income above $75,000 and an average household income of $100,365. Compared to Red State Americans in Franklin County where only 16% of people have an income over $75,000 and an average household income of on $51,872. He also states that students in Montgomery County have an average a 601 in verbal, and a 622 in math on their SAT scores. In Franklin County, students averaged on their SAT scores a 495 in verbal and 480 in math (Brooks; 528).
Since the article was written between 2000 and 2001, a very important piece of U.S. history happened in the middle of David Brooks writing it, which are the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Thousands of innocent American lives were killed by Middle Eastern terrorists who hijacked multiple planes that crashed into the two World Trade Centers, the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania. It opened Brooks’ eyes to how the civilians of these two counties acted. He states,
“In the days immediately following September 11 the evidence seemed clear that despite our differences, we are still a united people. American flags flew everywhere in Franklin County and in Montgomery County. Patriotism surged (Brooks; 529).” Weeks following the event though, Brooks indicates that the people go back to their normal ways as separated counties. Brooks relates the U.S. as a “cafeteria nation” because in a school cafeteria, there are certain cliques that people fit into. He says these cliques do not change the other ones (Brooks; 531). In the end, however, Brooks indicates, “What unites the two Americans, then, is our mutual commitment to this way of life- to the idea that a person is not bound by his class, or by the religion of his fathers, but is free to build a plurality of connections for himself. We are participants in the same striving process, the same experimental journey…. (Brooks; 531).”

Part III: “Thesis”
I will have to disagree with what Brooks is implying. American’s may come together in a time of tragedy, but in the end, we all fall back to segregation. Through culture, religion, and economic standpoints, the American people always find a way to separate from each other.

Works Cited
Brooks, David. "One Nation, Slightly Divisible." Signs of Life in the USA. Ed. Sonia Maasik. By Jack Solomon. Vol. Seventh Edition. Boston: Bradford/St. Martin's, 2012. 524-31. Print.
"Columnist Biography: David Brooks." The New York Times. The New York Times, 2007. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
"David Brooks | American Journalist and Commentator." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Ed. Encyclopedia of Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2016. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.

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