Liz Lenz, happy and relaxed during a recent visit to California. But she reports that "Like so many people, I’m scared and I’m tired and I’m angry and I still have to live in this state, in this country. I cannot pack up my kids and my dogs and fly off to someplace a little further from the brink of fascism."

This week Liz Lenz challenged the notion of a strict red-blue political divide in America, noting instead that such divisions are exaggerated and largely shaped by socioeconomic factors, particularly wealth. 

"This divide never existed," she says, "or if it does, it has more to do with money than with politics. And we understand each other perfectly."

Then in her candid and forthright way, she shares the day-to-day reality of being a single mom in Iowa in 2024. "I think of the myth," she says, "as I’ve parented across the political divide. My kids exist in both worlds. In one, the coronavirus was made in a lab in China, kitty litter boxes populate schools and public school teachers try to groom kids to change their gender. 

"They also exist in my house, where we watched news coverage of the insurrection; where we regularly hang out with queer people; where I’ve helped them research and dissect why no, kids aren’t being shipped in Wayfair furniture. It’s a house where they hear about how their aunt’s life was saved by an abortion."

She concludes by saying that she knows that "even after the election, this political reality won’t go away. That billionaire’s kid will still be trans. Your neighbor will still blast right-wing talk radio. Chuds online will still call you fat and ugly for not being married or procreating. That dad will still stand up in the school board meeting and accuse everyone of brainwashing his kids with sexually explicit books. The progressive mom with a 'love is love' sign in her yard will still white-flight to a better school district."

"...But I will still be here. And this is not some cheery comment on unity or what binds us together....We’d all love to tune out. To unsubscribe. To resign and retreat. But there’s no impenetrable blue bubble, no safe haven available to any but the wealthiest. There is only one America, and we’re all still living in it."

ESSAY: The Myth of Red States and Blue States