In 2019, the confluence of ideology and geography come into even sharper relief

Economist Stephen Moore broadened his realm of consideration beyond his customary focus in a recent Townhall column to deliver a truly upside-the-head speculation that, in this year of buzz-saw cacophony, bitterness and polarization, can no longer be dismissed as the stuff of fantasy.

To wit, he wonders how much more post-America can take before it splits apart:

In America, the deepening and perhaps irreversible red state-blue state schism deserves immediate attention. We as a nation are more divided on ideological, cultural, economic and geographical lines than at any time since the Civil War. Look at the electoral map from recent elections.

In most of the South and the Mountain States -- red America -- liberal Democrats are virtually nonexistent in state government. In blue America -- California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island -- Republicans have been wiped off the map. Today, there are only two states that have a divided legislature.

I hope that we can bridge our differences and come together as one nation. This 50-state union is what has made America the unrivaled superpower economically and militarily. We benefit mightily from being the largest free trade zone in the world and from our common bond of freedom.

But it's not unimaginable that the polar opposite visions of where America should be headed economically, culturally and morally can't be repaired. I hope I'm wrong, but prudence dictates we start thinking of what might happen if liberal and conservative America grow so polarized that they can't peaceably coexist in the future.

For some concrete evidence that the time has come to ponder this possibility, I ask any LITD readers living in flyover country rather than coastal / urban areas what they make of recent speeches by New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio and newly sworn in California governor Gavin Newsom. Are the visions each of them outlining something you'd tolerate where you live?

DeBlasio says this:

New York City will begin guaranteeing comprehensive health care to every single resident regardless of someone's ability to pay or immigration status, an unprecedented plan that will protect the more than half-a-million New Yorkers currently using the ER as a primary provider, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. 

It's not health insurance, his spokesman clarified after the surprise announcement on MSNBC Tuesday morning. 

"This is the city paying for direct comprehensive care (not just ERs) for people who can't afford it, or can't get comprehensive Medicaid — including 300,000 undocumented New Yorkers," spokesman Eric Phillips tweeted. 

Newsom came out of the gate with a confrontational tone:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was sworn in Monday and immediately drew sharp battle lines with President Donald Trump, pledging to enact “progressive, principled” policies as the antidote to the White House’s “corruption and incompetence.”

“People’s lives, freedom, security, the water we drink, the air we breathe — they all hang in the balance,” Newsom, 51, declared to a crowd of hundreds packed into a tent outside the Capitol.

Newsom took the helm as California’s 40th governor with a speech laced with bold pronouncements about California’s values and the direction he envisions for the nation’s most populous state.

But there were few specifics on how he’ll get there. He never mentioned Trump by name, but said the president’s administration is “hostile to California’s values and interests” and blasted plans to construct a wall along the nation’s border with Mexico.

“The country is watching us, the world is watching us. The future depends on us, and we will seize this moment,” he said. 

Maybe he didn't offer a lot of specifics, but he's on record as advocating an aggressively more pervasive role for government in people's lives:

While touting the California Dream and strong economy, Newsom also acknowledged the state has problems, from a homelessness crisis to a gulf between the state’s wealthiest and poorest residents to failing schools, all of which he called “moral imperatives.” Beyond Trump, he pledged to take on drug companies, the gun lobby, polluters and payday lenders.

Newsom praised Brown, a longtime family friend, but indicated he would strike out a separate path from the fiscal restraint Brown made a hallmark of his last eight years in office. Brown sometimes angered legislative Democrats by rejecting big-ticket social spending items.

Newsom, meanwhile, already has pledged to expand access to early childhood education, reduce the cost of community college and extend family leave. He suggested Brown’s method of resisting more spending in favor of saving needed rethinking.

The lines have been drawn. This vision is utterly foreign to most people in the hinterland.

How do you bridge a divide this deep?