Joe Biden withdrew from the race, but the US election is still a contest of "two Americas"

The Republican National Convention in the United States has concluded, and the "Trump-Vance" combination of the Republican side of the 2024 US presidential election has been officially announced. As a conservative successor to Trump's MAGA (Make America Great Again), Vance, who is in his late 40s and came out of the Appalachian mountains, is expected to continue the Trumpism in the post-Trump era.

On the Democratic side, although the current US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the election on the 21st, he said that he supported the nomination of Vice President Harris as the Democratic presidential candidate. But no matter which combination ultimately runs, it represents a very different side of America from "Trump-Vance." This reflects not only the partisan divide between liberals and conservatives, but also the respective identities of race, religion, culture, economy, etc., and the direction of the United States.

With just over 100 days to go before the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the "two Americas" debate is not only the background color of this election, but also the competitive melody of the past 200 years and a long time in the future of the United States.

"Cultural America" vs. "Political America"

The answer to the question of "two Americas" can be found in the early days of the founding of the United States.

The Federalist Papers and Democracy in America are the bibles of contemporary American conservatives and liberals. Where conservatives and liberals differ is in the relationship between culture and politics. In short, conservatives believe that culture determines the rise and fall of societies and the success or failure of politics. Liberals believe that politics can change culture and change customs. In this sense, for both conservatives and liberals in the United States, the "two Americas" are "cultural America" and "political America."

Although there has been an on-and-off relationship between specific parties in American history, the struggle between liberal "political America" and conservative "cultural America" has lasted for more than 200 years. Its essence is to always ask: What is America? What is America?

Let's start with "cultural America." In this view, the roots of American culture lie in Protestantism, and even in the 250 years from colonial to Reconstruction (1620-1630 to 1870-1880), there was no American culture and no Americans, only Protestant culture and New Englanders.

The spirit of America is Protestant, and American individualism is Protestant. In front of the British and Europeans, Americans are a "child who goes out with a negative air" : all new immigrants to the United States have this mentality to deal with their relationship with their motherland, which is the psychological source of isolationism in the United States and the Americans.

For the United States, culture began in New England, and industrialization also began in New England. New England took the lead in completing industrialization and urbanization in the United States. After its densely populated small town model spread to the whole country, New England took the lead in "deindustrialization" and "anti-urbanization". The modern residential houses scattered in the suburbs, fields and mountains became the miniature landscape of the struggling "city on a hill".

Say "political America." This view sees America as an ideal that the world aspires to, an eternal ideal of freedom, equality, democracy, and the rule of law, a universal ideal that believes that political power can transform societies, cultures, and civilizations.

In 1964, the US Republican Party won the Democratic Party in the South of the five traditional iron vote states, the corresponding but often overlooked is that the US Democratic Party won the Republican Party in the Northeast of the six traditional iron vote states, the change in the voter base redrew the map of party politics, the United States thus completed the impact of today's social restructuring and political restructuring.

This was the beginning of the great transformation of modern America. American liberal scholars such as Robert Putnam see 1965 as the beginning of the second Gilded Age in the United States, and American conservative scholars such as Samuel Huntington see 1965 as the beginning of the clash of civilizations between European immigrants and non-European immigrants that deconstructed and anti-deconstructed America. The debate between the two is the battle between "political America" and "cultural America."

"Political America", that is, the liberal America that never stops realizing the ideal of freedom, equality, democracy and rule of law, believes that the solution to the dilemma of the United States lies in politics; On the other hand, "cultural America," a conservative America that constantly confronts the reality of economic and social inequality, believes that the solution to America's problems lies in culture.

At present, the "two Americas" dispute between "Trump-Vance" and the Democrats can be seen as the "cultural America" and "political America" dispute.

"Day Culture America" versus "Night Culture America"

A further understanding of the "Two Americas" can also be observed from the daytime culture of the United States represented by big factories and industrialization, and the evening culture of the United States represented by Hollywood. In this way, the "two Americas" became the "cultural America of the day" and the "cultural America of the night."

"Trump-vance" tries to return to the "glory and dream" that the daytime culture gives to the United States, while Democrats such as Biden and Harris cling to the "halo and filter" that the night culture adds to the United States.

In his book "The American Character," sociologist Fei Xiaotong studied the daytime culture of the United States. This culture is American culture as a civilized society, which is the basis of existence, behavior and psychology of the United States and Americans. Daytime culture has enabled the United States to achieve self-sufficiency in industrial products, endowed Americans with creativity, autonomy and self-confidence, and shaped the American spirit based on industrial autonomy.

On the other hand, many people have long been influenced by the American evening culture represented by Hollywood. A typical example is Friends, which has been popular for 20 years. The show is a model of "political America" and the pinnacle of "cultural America of the night," symbolizing the decay of "cultural America of the day."

In addition, the TV series "24" is also a representative of night culture. What the protagonists are challenging, with their own efforts and tacit approval, are the principles of legal due process protection established by the Warren Court in the United States between 1953 and 1969. What this challenge, on national security grounds, seeks to mend is the fissures in the ideal of "political America."