"Two Americas"

At midcentury, in 2050, will the United States of America still exist as a liberal democracy?

Or will the right-left division become unbridgeable, leading to a devolution into two Americas?

Would a national split be more like a truce, a separation, a divorce, or a second Civil War?

One distinct possibility involves intensifying culture wars, with growing hostility and low-intensity violence. 

Many observers anticipate efforts to nullify federal power, with some groups working toward outright secession. 

And, if it ever came to a formal break, how could boundaries possibly be drawn? 

Consider the vast swaths of American Red, the sparsely-populated, socially and politically conservative, monocultural rural heartland, and its antithesis, the crowded, multicultural urban American Blue, short on geography but rich in people, innovation, education, and technology.

For those with liberal or progressive views and values, it’s easy to imagine a secessionist far right confederacy as a dystopian Christian theocracy, a contentious, angry chorus of enclaves. It’s much harder to paint a useful picture of a successful, stable liberal democratic republic of the sort that many on the left (or just left of center) might hope for.

But perhaps we won't reach a breaking point. Perhaps our errant democracy will right its course. In fact, the first workshop will raise the possibility that visionary leaders (remember those?) could actually rekindle the American flame.

This series of three workshops will take us deep into the origins of the American divide, its development, the current crisis, and some possible future twists and turns in our national story.

Each of our three workshops is self-contained but all are thematically related. Sign up for one or for them all. You won’t regret it.

• Jan. 21-Feb. 4: "TWO AMERICAS"

• Feb. 25-Mar. 11:  "ELEVEN AMERICAN NATIONS"

• Apr. 1-15: "AMERICAN DREAMING"