The United States is not united at all. We live in two countries, divided by politics, wealth, health and education.

Almost two centuries ago, British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli wrote: "Two nations... who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets. The rich and the poor."

He was describing 1840s Great Britain, but it sure sounds like the disunited states of our union today.

Citizens of the red states that voted for Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024 are far poorer than blue states that did not. Mississippi, for example, has a per capita income about half of that of Massachusetts. Nine of the top 10 states in per capita income are blue. Nine of the bottom 10 are red.

The ramifications of this disparity are grievous. According to a recent study led by Yale researchers, a female born in 2000 in West Virginia has a life expectancy of 76. If she'd been born in New York, her life expectancy would be 92. For the 25-year-old West Virginia woman, that's an improvement of one year since 1900. For the New Yorker, the improvement is 23 years.

A male born in 2000 in Mississippi should expect to live to age 72. If he'd been born in California, he'd live 15 years longer. The improvement since 1900? In Mississippi 9.5 years, in California 26 years.

Two nations, indeed. Notably, the top half-dozen states whose inhabitants live longest are solid blue when it comes to politics. The 15 states with the shortest expected lifespans are, by contrast, rock-hard red. It doesn't help that gun deaths cluster in those states. For example, deep red Mississippi has eight times more gun deaths on a per capita basis than dark blue Massachusetts.

It's not much different when it comes to education. Nine of the top 10 states in spending per pupil are blue. (Alaska is the exception.) All 10 of the bottom states are red. Education ties in with the longevity numbers above. An American with a college degree lives 11 years longer than someone who did not finish high school. Not unexpectedly, the top 10 states in per capita graduates from college are blue. Nine of the bottom 10 are red. (Nevada is the exception.)

No wonder there's bitterness in red states at what's going on. No wonder the blue states continue to vote blue. They have a good thing going.

And yet, while the Trump administration exploits the resentment of the poorer, less healthy, less educated voters in red states, its policies undermine federal programs that could help them. The administration is making medical insurance more expensive, attacking universities, withdrawing support for vaccinations, causing rural hospitals to close, doing nothing about the proliferation of assault weapons, seeking to restrict the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and gutting the Department of Education and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. All those programs are needed more than ever, in red states most of all.

Stoking resentment may win votes, but it perpetuates the two nations. States cannot themselves end the chasm between the two nations, one rich and one poor. Only the federal government can do that.

In an address at the University of Georgia in 1961, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, the father of the current Secretary of Health and Human Services, said: "I believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil. Government belongs wherever evil needs an adversary and there are people in distress."

More than ever, we need leadership in Washington that will end that evil and give all Americans the chance to live longer, healthier, safer and better-educated lives.

A renaissance man, Keith Raffel has served as the senior counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee, started a successful internet software company and written five novels, which you can check out at keithraffel.com. He currently spends the academic year as a resident scholar at Harvard. To find out more about Keith and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at creators.com.

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