Divided America!

Walking around San Francisco, I saw this ad somewhere in its increasingly sprawling downtown streets. American capitalism, à la Spotify, will market anything. I doubt these playlists are headnodders, but it’s emblematic of how I think historians will mark today’s age: Divided America.

Some might rue this. But history and human experience also tell us that division sometimes serves ultimately constructive purposes. (All unity masks diversity, anyway; and let us remember, by global standards, America’s political and ideological divisions are hardly catastrophic or even that significant.) Still, one hopes. . .