We get wound up, defending our regional pride, resenting the fools in the other part of the country who just don't get it - we're like the monkey with his fist in the jar, clenched too tight, stuck in place by our own refusal to let go.
The culture war always benefits the right. We, as progressives, know this perfectly well. Dividing Americans on "cultural" lines - religious, racial, rural/urban, etc. - has always worked to the great detriment of the progressive cause.
This whole blue state/red state thing is just the latest version. Even when a conservative like David Brooks pretends (subscription required) to argue against the distinction, he's really working to poke at the wound, to aggravate it, to assert the superiority (however innocent) of one side versus another.
It seems that we progressives have become particularly entangled in this latest version of the culture war. We have legitimate greviances which can easily be organized along the lines of the blue/red divide. But all the while, that's a fault line that serves the right.
The very best diary this year was by Chris Bowers, when he argued that the task of progressives over the next few decades will be to end the culture war - to overcome the entire notion that the world is basically about a clash of civilizations. To get beyond resentment, and feelings of seige.
I think we shouldn't be talking about regionalism at all - or, if we do, it should be as a minor curiousity, or a simple matter of logistics - getting from point A to point B. I think we should really be focusing on common values, and our plans to advance those values.
We all know that. We get caught up in the Pie Fight of Civilizations, but we all know that it's a distraction. It only benefits the right. And we have got to stop falling for it.