One week after the reelection of President Barack Obama, America appears as divided and politically polarized as ever. Within the beltway, Republicans and Democrats both claim to have the same hope to come together to deal with the fiscal cliff, but each side has given the same partisan policy proposals they have held since the debt crisis. Outside Washington, two separate “protests” have spontaneously broken out.

Some Americans unhappy with the president’s reelection have begun hanging upside down American flags over the last week, with such protests seen from Arizona to West Virginia to Florida. The controversial move is meant to show that America is in “distress”, but some are just saying that the protests show a lack of respect for the flag. Along with the flag protest, petitions have begun in 3o states calling for a peaceful secession from the United States. In Texas, the number of signatories has grown to nearly 80,000.

Considering the political tension and growing social unrest over the last week, what are we in store for over the next four years?

Some conservative leaders like Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal have been less pessimistic, calling this an opportunity for the GOP to broaden its mindset and reject anti-intellectualism, while embracing populist-tinged reform.

“We’ve got to make sure that we are not the party of big business, big banks, big Wall Street bailouts, big corporate loopholes, big anything,” Jindal told POLITICO in a story published Tuesday. “We cannot be, we must not be, the party that simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys.”

After Tuesday’s loss, is the mindset among gloom and doom conservatives over the top? Or are these Americans right about the state of American politics and government? Watch a clip from ‘Real News’ Tuesday discussing these divergent reactions among conservatives one week after Obama’s reelection and whether America is truly now upside down: