The Two Americas

John Edwards turned out to be a giant piece of shit, but he was right about one thing.

Former South Carolina Senator and Vice Presidential nominee John Edwards was once considered a rising star within the Democratic Party. Like almost every other golden boy of the New Know-Nothings, Edwards’ fast-track to stardom was derailed by him being a gigantic piece of human trash.

In this case meant that he fathered a child with a campaign staffer while his wife was stricken with cancer. And yes, I’m just as shocked as you that a high-priced trial lawyer turned out to be full of shit.

But, if you look past Edwards diabolical horniness, you see why the mainstream media tabbed him as a favorite heading into the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary.

The ethos of his campaign came down to the concept of “Two Americas.” Here is how he described his mentality while campaigning as John Kerry’s Vice Presidential nominee:

“I have spent my life fighting for the kind of people I grew up with. For two decades, I stood with kids and families against big HMOs and big insurance companies. When I got to the Senate, I fought those same fights against the Washington lobbyists and for causes like the Patients' Bill of Rights. I stand here tonight ready to work with you and John [Kerry] to make America stronger. And we have much work to do, because the truth is, we still live in a country where there are two different Americas... [applause] one, for all of those people who have lived the American dream and don't have to worry, and another for most Americans, everybody else who struggle to make ends meet every single day. It doesn't have to be that way..."

“We can build one America where we no longer have two health care systems: one for families who get the best health care money can buy, and then one for everybody else rationed out by insurance companies, drug companies, HMOs. Millions of Americans have no health coverage at all. It doesn't have to be that way. We have a plan..."

“We shouldn't have two public school systems in this country: one for the most affluent communities, and one for everybody else. None of us believe that the quality of a child's education should be controlled by where they live or the affluence of the community they live in. It doesn't have to be that way. We can build one school system that works for all our kids, gives them a chance to do what they're capable of doing..."

Edwards was a lot like Trump in that mayhap his message sounds good until you do 30 seconds of researching into the messenger to realize he’s a fraud.

That’s the difference between spitting it and living it. Edwards was only living in one America but trying to pretend he existed in the other.

I think, ultimately, that’s the problem with America today. Sure, it’s Left vs. Right. Obviously The Right is full of shit. But more importantly, I think the war between the rich vs. the poor.

There is two Americas. The Republicans pretend there’s one and the Democrats pay lip service to the other.

The truth is most Americans want to achieve a level of wealth that hides them from the poverty required to underwrite their lifestyle. They get disgusted by having a person who earns less than $30,000 a year in their genuine vicinity.

That matriculates down to every other lever of society. There is truly two Americas and it runs much deeper than some windswept adulterer from the Carolinas tried to tell us long ago.

It is real, and it exists. And if you feel different, then perhaps you should consider which side of the fence you’re on.

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