The contrasts in Amerian politics have never been more obvious or unnoticed by the main stream press.

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Representation at the conventions this year highlighted a growing divide between white male "Heartland" Republicans and the ever more diverse "Liberal Coast" Democrats.  These media-created geographic distinctions are silly, of course, since all delegates were from all 50 states. What is real is that these two parties represent very different constituents.   

Republican delegates were over 90% white and two-thirds male, while almost two-thirds of the Democrats were minorities and more than half were woman.  The contrasts don't stop there.  Democrats wore a kaleidoscope of fashions while Republican men dressed in suits.  The "red meat" liberals in Denver didn't hear all they wanted while "red meat" conservatives in Minnesota were whipped into feeding frenzies by conservative hardliners, including their VP candidate.   Democrats repeatedly hammered us with broad policy goals while the Republican drums beat out their traditional themes of morality (as in Christian), family values and nationalistic pride.   

Such stark contrasts received little comment during convention coverage.  Television had us pondering the trivialities of tactics, personalities and dumb speculations of its own making.   

Meanwhile, outside the convention centers, thousands of ordinary American's showed up to voice opinions not heard from either podium.  These folks were herded into "free speech" zones far away from the cameras.  Corralled into these tightly controlled zones of silence, the police treated them like suspects.  Minnesota police even conducted "preemptive" raids, without warrants, to jail members of a group planning to videotape police conduct during the convention.   Later, these same police in full riot gear knowingly and violently arrested independent news reporters who witnessed them arresting scores of peaceful protesters.   

None of this was covered by the mainstream reporters embedded within the convention centers.  Republican's accused the news outlets of not being conservative.  I accuse them of not being journalists. 

Authors Website: http://www.aseyeseesit.blogspot.com

Authors Bio:

Brian Lynch is a retired social worker who worked in the areas of adult mental health and child protection for many years. His work brought him into direct contact with all the major social issues of the day and many of our basic social institutions such as law enforcement, schools, hospitals, welfare agencies and private social service providers on both a local and state levels.

This was a privileged vantage point for him to observe every level of human ecology, from the lives of individuals to the operations of government institutions. He was struck by the impact of state and federal policies on the lives of ordinary people, for better or worse. Political conflict and the clash of ideologies has real, observable and sometimes devastating consequences. He now writes and blogs on topics that relate to his social observations.