American Objects of Affection: (shared by Left and Right)

                                                                                 

Americans seem very convinced a cultural war between the left-wing and right wing ruins any chance for peace and civility in the public discourse. Balderdash! Bunk I say… for Americans from across the political spectrum share a fondness of many of the same things.

Top 3 things Americans love:

1)  Cars

2) Air-conditioning
3) Cellphones

The Top 3 may seem so obvious as to be not worth mentioning. People in many countries may also love cellphones (laptops, iPads etc/), cars and air conditioning. The less prosperous populations often do not have access to these luxuries.

The Top 3 are not considered luxuries by most Americans. The American populace, left or right wing, feel they must have these commodities. We take them for granted like the air we breathe. 

Cars and Trucks:

The rural American, identified as Donald Trump voters, likes the pickup truck the bigger and more expensive the better. 

Pickup Trucks (Trumpers like): 

1)    Ford F-150

2)  Chevy Silverado

3)  Dodge Ram pickup

Fortunately, American car manufacturers produce well-built pickup trucks. You can buy American, feel good about it and get a great truck. 

Pickup Trucks (Liberals like)

A guy who drives a Toyota Tacoma may just be a liberal. Even left-leaning, bleeding hearts, enjoy the macho feel of a big, steel pickup truck.

SUVs (Obama Liberals like)

1)   Subaru

2)  Lexus RX 350

3)  Honda CRV

Liberals profess a passion for the have-nots but often drive SUVs that prove they “have” plenty. The SUVs listed above tend to be expensive and Japanese-made. Maybe the international flavor of a Japanese-made vehicle appeals to liberals love of globalism? These wonderfully built vehicles cost a hell of a lot—but so do the fancy versions of the pickup trucks listed above.

Right wing Trumpers and left-wing Barack Obama lovers don’t fret about global warming when they turn the key to their ignition. 

Henry Ford turned us on to car ownership with the Model-T cars he mass-produced from 1908-1927. America has never been the same. Ford built the car at a price the average man could afford, even those working on the assembly line.

Ford revolutionized car production with his assembly line. His business genius allowed him to recognize the advantage to making a car affordable to the rising middle class. Henry Ford’s marketing genius got us hooked. The driving habit has been with us for a century. Doesn’t matter your political persuasion—everybody likes having a car/truck.

Air Conditioning

Air conditioning got invented by Willis Carrier in 1902. You might say that air conditioning brought the North and South together-- with the arrangement that Northerners could now more readily handle the worm temperatures of the South.

"The introduction of residential air conditioning in the 1920s helped enable the great migration to the Sun Belt in the United States." (Wikipedia)

Chilled air is so prevalent everywhere in the South and Western United States as to be invisible. You walk into a restaurant, movie theater, super market in Texas, where I live, and feel your just stepped into a produce cooler or a meat locker. Everybody demands central air conditioning, or AC/  We hardly get a winter down here, except indoors, where man has created his own climate. The entire spectrum of voters, from Trumper to Obama supporter, votes “yes” when it comes to air conditioning.

Cellphones

We get even more agreement on the cellphone. Most everybody wants an iPhone. Samsung phones are popular too.

Cellphones can be seen in every hand, from  alt-right believers to their Antifa adversaries. Apple owns the world because left, right and everybody else loves the iPhone. We all have computers in our hand, a luxury valued by all—right or left.

We may be more alike than we care to admit.