> These studies just reaffirm tribal and racial differences between Americans. If you were Russia or China, eagerly awaiting the strategic downfall of America (

> These studies just reaffirm tribal and racial differences between Americans. If you were Russia or China, eagerly awaiting the strategic downfall of America (which can only come from within), you'd happily champion and fund these sort of studies. It's worth noting that this isn't the only dysfunction that will likely lead to the "the strategic downfall of America (which can only come from within)." It's just another instance of the broader problem of a comfort with (and even preference for) disunity and the inability for factions to come together and compromise for the greater good. Another recent instance is the debt-limit brinkmanship. I think what underlies is it a lazy assumption that America's position is forever secure, so internecine ideological squabbles can take priority.