North versus South. Blue versus red. Liberal versus conservative. Democrat versus Republican. The Coasts versus the Midwest.

Even though Barack Obama won in an electoral landslide, 46 percent of eligible voters did not want him to be President. It appears that there certainly is a divide in our country. Nearly every other person disagrees over fundamental policies and ideologies.

One has to wonder about the validity of Sarah Palin’s claim that there is a “real” America. Could there be such a thing as two culturally separate entities under one constitution? According to Sarah Palin and parts of the Republican Party, yes.

Claiming that there is a “real” America was one of McCain and Palin’s attempts to reach their target demographic. It is the people from the Wasillas and Scrantons of our country—the one stoplight towns where the good old Joes and Sallys come out on Sundays to sit on their front porches, waving an American flag and drinking Country Time lemonade. One cannot forget that the majority of people who embraced these ideas were, according to the polling website fivethirtyeight.com, mostly white, lacking higher education, and of a lower socioeconomic status.

While people have the right to their own opinions and beliefs, I feel strongly that it is time that our country as a whole makes a shift in how we think, see the world, and protect human rights. In particular, I find it hard to believe, as do most scientists, that people still do not believe in evolution. Unbelievably, advocates of creationism opened a $27 million “creationism museum” in Kentucky, which claims that over half-million people have visited it since its opening in May 2007. Websites offer curricula so that home-schooling can teach creationism. Ardent cases have been made from Kansas to Pennsylvania to Texas that creationism should be taught in schools and that disclaimers ought to be put in textbooks saying that evolution is only a theory and people should be wary of it.

Dr. Kent Hovind, the founder of the Creation Science Evangelism Ministry, has even defended the idea that evolution is a religion. “People believe in evolution; they do not know that it is true… evolutionism is a religious world view… The exclusive teaching of this dangerous mind-altering philosophy in taxpayer-supported schools, parks, museums and other institutions is also a clear violation of the First Amendment,” he writes on his website. So rather than look at it for what it is, we fight over creationism and evolution.

This divide continues to grow and manifest itself in other aspects of our lives. The passing of Proposition Eight in California, which overrode the California Supreme Court ruling that allowed same-sex marriage, and similar setbacks in Florida and Arizona, not to mention the amendment in Arkansas now prohibiting gay men and women from adopting children, are all a travesty.

And the divide is almost right down the middle. 52.2 percent of Californian voters approved Proposition 8. 63 percent of Floridians voted for the amendment that would “protect marriage.”

America should be outraged. To deny men and women basic rights because of a gender preference is comparable to denying men and women civil rights because of skin color. How can forced teenage marriages because of an unwanted baby be socially acceptable, but marriage based on love and mutual respect be illegal?

This divide in fundamental beliefs has split the country. Could Palin be right? Are there two Americas? I certainly hope not. Not because I am opposed to small towns, but because our country cannot afford to be divided.

The economy, global warming, infringements on human rights, and wars threaten to throw the world into chaos. We can only defeat these challenges through the spirit of cooperation. Now we have an opportunity to take this divided country and rally for a common cause – the well being of individuals, our nation, and the world. I hope we can do it.