Jacobs and Shea insist that the principal cause of the urban-rural divide is a more positive, although somewhat nebulous, “place-based, group identity” held by rural voters. It is this “collective sense of shared destiny” based on where they live that has been blown into the “myth” propagated by Republican politicians that rural residents constitute “the real America.” The urban-rural divide has become so stark that it threatens American democracy by erasing political competition based on issues, leaving only room for personality and demagoguery. ~ Jessica T. Mathews