"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
. . effectively but not officially. It's not North and South, it's the coast, nicely Blue, and the interior, nasty Red. Guns, God, and Pickup Trucks. Fortunately, the interior is sparsely populated.