There’s always been something of a divide between the urban parts of the country and the rural parts. The terms “city-slicker” and “country bumpkin” didn’t spawn out of the ether all on their own, after all. They’re indicative of the fact that the cities and the rural parts of the country are very different places.

However, in recent years, it seems that the divide is growing, and it’s making things interesting in places like Kentucky.

It’s hard not to be impressed when you look at the post-election map of Kentucky, with its sweeping “Red Wave.” The Republican take-over of rural and small-town Kentucky is apparently complete. The same holds true across the country.

Clearly there is a deep disconnect between the “red” – conservative and rural – and the “blue” – liberal and urban – parts of the state, as well as the nation. This divergence is reflected across the country, as election maps of the nation shows the urban areas to be solidly “blue” and the rural areas solidly “red.”

This particular column is trying to make the case that Democrats are really better on the economy and all that because so many large corporations are based in cities, which is specious reasoning at best, but it’s not surprising to see a leftist trying to make it none the less.

However, what the author here misses is that there are many reasons why the rural parts of the country vote against Democrats with every chance they get.

You see, the cities are preoccupied with the cities. They simply don’t care about the struggles of rural America on a great many subjects, including guns.

While cities like Chicago, Baltimore, St. Louis, and many others are struggling to address their own problems, their proposed solutions often include state-wide legislation restricting access to guns or making it more difficult to use one to protect your life. In these politicians’ minds, this is making the cities safer.

However, what we know for a fact is that they’re making the more rural parts of the state less safe.

Rural counties may only have a single deputy on patrol at any given time, so when you hear a bump in the night, that deputy may be nearby…or he may be on the other side of the county and have to run full-speed for half an hour to get to you. Without a gun, you’re at the mercy of whatever made that bump.

Yet Democrats from the city don’t see it that way. They’re from places where there may be hundreds of officers on duty at any given time when help is just a few minutes away. They simply can’t grok the idea that you might not have a police officer at your house in just a few minutes if there’s an emergency.

In fairness, many in rural communities don’t really care what the challenges of the city are, either. Those are the cities’ problems to deal with and the rural areas simply aren’t interested in worrying about it. This probably doesn’t help either, to be fair, but on the same token, most of the rural voters see things like gun rights as rights and believe that if the cities are having an issue, they should look elsewhere for the answers.

Since that’s not happening, the divide will continue to grow. We should all dig in and get used to it.