Karen Heller: Americans may be more alike than we realize

America, long bifurcated into the red and the blue, is increasingly variegated. We have Oregon greenies and Kentucky coal miners, white-collar Obama elites and Clinton's blue-collar, hard-working Americans.

At the multiplex, we'll soon split between pink Sex and the City cosmopolitans and dusty khaki Indiana Jones adventurers. We're perceived as a dysfunctional color wheel, a rainbow of disharmony.

But perhaps we have more in common than not. Perhaps we're more alike than we know, judging from how Americans can come together to aid in a disaster, share the same indignities in air travel, and wonder how it is that Paris Hilton is famous.

For instance, no matter what Hillary Clinton says, most of us are hard-working Americans. Even those voters who don't support her.

We know that we drive too much. Most of the time, it's not even fun.

We know that because we drive too much, oil costs more, the Saudi royal family has too much money and power, the world is less clean, and we're not in as good shape as we should be.

We all believe our health-care system is broken. Our medical professionals, hospitals and research are the envy of the world, and the way we take care of our people, or don't, is an abomination.

We agree that the war in Iraq isn't working, costs too much and is diverting our tax dollars from more important issues.

We all want our children to be the best-educated in the world.

Most of us disapprove of how George Bush is doing his job. We view Jan. 20, 2009, no matter what the election's outcome, as a cause for celebration.

We think that commercial flying has become an utterly horrendous experience and that, by comparison, riding on an old bus with worn shocks and packed with farm animals might be preferable, while guaranteeing a better on-time arrival.

We believe - well, those of us not from New England - that there is some justice in the Patriots' being deprived of a perfect season, even if the Giants had to do it, and that the Yankees have won altogether too many World Series rings.

We agree that, after a century, it would be nice if the Cubs finally did and if, following three decades without one, Big Brown claimed the Triple Crown, even if the thoroughbred is named for a delivery company.

We know cable costs too much. We realize we're dumb for subscribing and, because we do, we're not in as good shape as we should be.

We understand that years from now, we'll look back at the artistic wasteland that is reality television and wonder why we ever endured such rubbish.

Despite this, we know that Ryan Seacrest will still be on television. We will share in our slack-jawed bewilderment.

We appreciate that America has never had better food, yet we've never been in worse shape or consumed more sodium-laden or corn-syrup-drenched processed food, despite a universal desire to live longer and better.

We want to be happy.

We want to live longer and better.

We want a better government and great leaders.

We know that, while this primary season has been interminable, the process has allowed candidates to meet more voters. It's made more voters matter, different issues be clarified and, all in all, has been good for democracy.

We understand that we live in a rich country that has far too many people in poverty.

Despite our differences, most Americans want the same thing: to live in a safe, healthy and thriving country with terrific opportunities, and leave this a better place for the generations to come.