That's why Tim Russert's Red States/Blue States map (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_st

That's why Tim Russert's Red States/Blue States map (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states) is so significant -- it exacerbated the us vs. them mentality and created a deeper visual divide throughout the country. It is so effective because sports has already conditioned us to think this way. The us vs. them mentality enables parties to get away with bundling "good" policies with "bad" because Republican voters will go along with the Republican party line even though they may not agree with all of the positions, likewise with Democrats. The parties cycle every few years so the "good" stuff that doesn't pass and the "bad" stuff that gets pushed through is blamed on the other side. This wouldn't be so pervasive if we would focus on individual issues and not parties.