Our United States of America

The United States of America.  Our country, our Republic… our home.

This map was created in November 2016, and anyone paying even a marginal degree of attention to the political news has seen it dozens of times.  It represents County-level results from the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and has probably been the source of more misinformation and misinterpretation than perhaps any map in history.

For the record, we are a Nation of about 3.8 million square miles, the red covers 3.3 million (87%), the blue 500,000 (13%).

Frankly I’ve grown weary of too many ideologues shouting and spitting at me what the map really means, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I’m what’s wrong with America because I’m a white male lawful citizen living in a red county.  According to many celebrities, most of the media, and pretty much all of the Left, 87% of the country is populated by people who are racist, uneducated, sexist, xenophobic, selfish and uncaring.

EXCEPT THAT…

Racist?

We are a Nation that elected President Barack Obama, twice, and each time he received more than 51% of the popular vote, and more than 61% of the Electoral vote.  WE are a Nation where, according to the US Census, Black average household income in 2015 was $49,629, and according to The Brookings Institution, in 124 majority-black cities, black families’ income was higher than the national median household income for all races.

Uneducated?

WE ARE a Nation where, according to the US Census, 88% of adults have graduated high school, 59% have attended college, 33% have earned undergraduate degrees, and 12% have earned advanced degrees.

Sexist?

WE ARE A Nation where, according to the National Center for Education Studies, 56% of college students are female, leading to the majority of both Bachelor’s and Graduate degrees being awarded to women.  In addition, according to the Harvard Business Review, women control 51.3% of the wealth, amounting to about $17 trillion.

Xenophobic?

WE ARE A NATION that, according to the US Census and Pew Research, shows the following demographic percentage of population changes from 2010 to 2015:

    Group       2010    2015     Change
–  White        64%   62%      -2%
–  Black          13%    14%       +1%
–  Latino        16%    18%      +2%
–  Asian           5%      6%       +1%
–  Muslim      .9%      1%      +.1%

Selfish and Uncaring?

WE ARE A NATION THAT in 2015, according to Giving USA’s Annual Report on Philanthropy, contributed $373,250,000,000 to charity…, $373 Billion! On average, that’s $1,166 from every single US citizen…, every man, every woman, and every child.

Considering this data from legitimate sources, I argue that the USA is not racist, uneducated, sexist, xenophobic, selfish and uncaring, for if those characterizations were true, none of the things mentioned above could have occurred or be occurring.

Fellow Americans, brothers and sisters, please, set aside the inflammatory emotions for just a moment and reflect upon the actual data.  Though we are certainly not without problems, people from all over the world go to great effort to come here.  As a Nation, we are tolerant, inclusive, educated and benevolent.  Those inherent values have helped us to build one of the, if not the, greatest civilizations in the history of humanity.  Despite what those who seek to divide us say about that map, THAT is who we really are.