bifurcated

Sure, the US is politically deeply divided, except I think "divided" isn't sufficient to describe us.

"Bipolar" would be more like it.

Sometimes, though, I'm not sure what we're even arguing about, since government in the U.S. today is privately owned by the Lords of Capital, and we really have no say in any of it. We're all of us just living in the empty shell of a former democratic republic called the USA and tryin to do as well for ourselves as we can.

The Lords and Ladies are still scared of us though. They're scared as hell that some of us might be able to see and speak the truth -- about them, or about the war, or the banks, or the environment. So to counter and suppress the truth, they run Operation Brainwash through the mass media, mostly TV (which should be avoided like plague), and fund the right-wing noise machine which engulfs our public discourse like a flood of bullshit, 24/7.

Some, who are too dense to know when they're being played for suckers, parrot the nonsense they hear on Fox News or CNN or read in Newsweak magazine. Others learn to think for themselves and express their own thoughts effectively. Such behavior is strongly discouraged in the capital-intensive USA, but there ain't no law against it yet.

Add that level of bipolarization to a penchant for violence and you get trouble, like we got today. And I know how to be violent like all Americans do, since we were all raised by cowboys on TV and in the movies. Whatcha do is shoot first and ask questions later.