These are the kind of things that make me think we’ve entered into a bloodless civil war in America. The country has become so big, diverse and polarized that merely effectively governing it has become nearly impossible. The near consensus that existed back in the 1930s, for example, is gone. At that time the country had only 100 million people and was 95% white and 95% Christian, and women really had little say in politics. That’s all changed drastically in the decades since.

Let’s face it: much of the reason for happiness over Detroit’s woes is that conservative whites feel threatened and just don’t care as much about people unlike themselves (whether non-white, non-Christian, gay, whatever).

I didn’t jump for joy today when I read yet another study showing that West Virginia and Kentucky have the highest preventable disease and obesity rates, and shortest life spans in America. But if I truly felt that the American way of life was threatened by those places (as baggers do regarding cities like Detroit), maybe I’d count that as a perverse victory for my side.

And remember, for today’s right wing reactionaries, this isn’t just about Detroit. The strongest, most diverse progressive outposts are medium to large cities, mostly outside the South. So you can add Chicago, NYC, DC, Boston, San Fran, L.A., even Austin to the list of places the gop would also like to see crash and burn. It’s not a real civil war, but a cultural one that shows no signs of abating soon.