Can the polarization between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. be reversed?

[The Grand Nudger]

African American social status and voting rights may seem like the signature cause of the war between the states.   It was not.  It was a convenient rallying point and basis for rallying points.  The real factor whose importance led to acceptance of the war on both sides was ascension of northern industrial interests and a reversal of balance of political and economic power between north and south.  The war prevented the south from taking their toys and going somewhere else, and ensured they have no choice but to remain in a national polity in which northern industrial interests dominated.

I think that people forget..or..more accurately, are not educated in the fact, that pre-civil war the south was the center of cultural and intellectual supremacy for the US.   The north made the stuff, but the south defined who we were.

The north won.  The fact that the north had to make periferal concessions to keep its winnings does not change the fact that it was a primarily industrial US that emerged and lasted down to this day, and the south got some carrots, knowing the north has the guns and will shoot.

-which might be the cultural artifact that informs southerners to arm themselves to the fuckin teeth...eh?  Nobody loves guns as much as some historic loser.  

Enlightened winner in conflicts of fundamental interest will disburse many carrots to the loser.   But Winners never won mainly by giving away carrots.  Winners in conflicts of fundamental interest always win by instilling the certainty created by experience that they can and will shoot, and will win when they shoot.  Carrots merely weaks the loser’s desire or resolve to periodically test and validate this certainty.

-and then as now, the south desires the industrial base that the north once enjoyed.  We ended up getting it...stolen directly from the north, ironically, because we would work for wages closer to those slaves of yore....for all the good it's done us.

Durable winnings in fundamental conflict is usually a lot less than the winnings the winner appears to be able to take at the moment of victory. Winners have to give up much of the winnings in order to secure the vital part.  Winners who try to take it all usually crash and burn in short order.  That has always been a key fact in diplomacy, including the part that comes after the other means.   This is actually being seen between 2016 and 2018 right here.

Indeed.