found at quoracd.net
For years we’ve been hearing
Texas threaten to secede. NY City has threatened to secede from the rest of the
state. In 1933 State Senator William E. Martin of North Dakota proposed that
the 39 western states leave the US. The remaining states of Maine, NH, Vermont,
Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey
would be left as the union.
That was not a bad idea. Sadly, nothing came of it. The Free State Project, the armed miscreants invading our state with the intention of taking over and dismantling our state government would like to secede. Out on the west coast, the California Freedom Coalition has turned in a proposed ballot initiative calling for California to withdraw from the US. Spokesperson Cindy Sheehan said the state should stop subsidizing a federal government that is out of state with California values.
That was not a bad idea. Sadly, nothing came of it. The Free State Project, the armed miscreants invading our state with the intention of taking over and dismantling our state government would like to secede. Out on the west coast, the California Freedom Coalition has turned in a proposed ballot initiative calling for California to withdraw from the US. Spokesperson Cindy Sheehan said the state should stop subsidizing a federal government that is out of state with California values.
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| miguelcolumbia on reddit |
We’ve held this huge, unwieldy country together for almost 250 years. That’s a long time. We’ve always been deeply divided (remember slavery?) and those divides have been glossed over, but never actually healed.
Racism is a huge divide.
Religion, even though we’re increasingly non-religious, is a huge divide. The
evangelicals have a death grip on the middle of the country. Anti-Muslim fear
is a constant beat, drummed by people who wouldn’t recognize Sharia if it leapt
up and bit them on the buttocks, but are sure that Sharia Law is already being
enacted in the United States. We are divided by science and facts. A great many
people who believe in Noah’s Ark deny that humans are having an impact on the
climate. Anyone who doesn’t like the news they’re hearing feels free to declare
it fake. We have wealth, poverty, gun, and education divides. We have an
information divide. We are divided on whether women are fully autonomous beings
or not. We don’t even agree what facts are any more.
Worst of all, most of this is
tacitly accepted. We’ve somehow accepted living in the “post-truth” era, where
alternative facts rule the day. Hardly anyone is bold enough to say that this
is absolute nonsense, and if we can’t do better than that, we should get out of
the nation business.
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| Rob Beschizza on Boing Boing |
Bottom line – a large segment of the nation voted for a dull-witted reality TV star with an incredibly embarrassing hair style at the last presidential election. A nation that once praised the virtues of statesmanship, went in the opposite direction, and chose a leader who is an acknowledged grabber of female genitalia. He and his grifter family are now lining their pockets at taxpayer expense. This clan is hastening the demise of the US as a global superpower. Under Trump, we’re officially a rogue nation.
Under Trump, we have reality
TV government. He tweets incessantly, picking fights, blaming others, and just
plain making stuff up. A large part of the audience cheers him on. That’s what
they’ve become. An audience. There is nothing on the looms, but they swear they
can see the fine fabric the Emperor is clothed in.
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| Nation States Forum |
I’m not sure there’s any hope
for unity, not after all this. If you were married to someone who was rude,
abusive, and insisted on revising history and loudly trumpeting ignorance while
calling it fact, would you stay with them? We should consider a divorce. A big
national divorce.
The eastern seaboard down to
Virginia is blue, and that includes New York. The west coast, Hawaii, and
Nevada are blue. The rest is mostly red with some outcroppings of blue. Years
ago I proposed creating the nation of New England – well, I wasn’t far off. We’d
find a way to divide the country up equitably, with the red minded folks moving
to the south and the center. They’d be able to have all the freedom they want
from regulation, from taxes, from big gummint - from all the things that make
them so unhappy. They could set it up any way they wanted: monarchies, theocracies, dictatorships, or
perhaps Randian enclaves with manly men doing manly things together with no
government required.
The blue countries wouldn’t be picking up the tab for them any more, (or for a bloated military) so they’d have plenty of money for innovation, education, and infrastructure projects. High speed, cross-country rail could connect the blue coasts. No need for the red area to contribute. Or participate. The blue countries could set up their own social security systems, safety nets, and health care. The red countries could issue bootstraps, handguns, and hire bathroom police. Careful consideration would have to be given to missile silos, weapons sites, and military assets. All nuclear weapons will be destroyed. This isn’t going to be a quickie divorce.
The US is a superpower in decline. Ideology and willful ignorance divide us. There’s no way to come back from that. We’re in an abusive relationship. We might as well accept it, split up, and move on.
The blue countries wouldn’t be picking up the tab for them any more, (or for a bloated military) so they’d have plenty of money for innovation, education, and infrastructure projects. High speed, cross-country rail could connect the blue coasts. No need for the red area to contribute. Or participate. The blue countries could set up their own social security systems, safety nets, and health care. The red countries could issue bootstraps, handguns, and hire bathroom police. Careful consideration would have to be given to missile silos, weapons sites, and military assets. All nuclear weapons will be destroyed. This isn’t going to be a quickie divorce.
The US is a superpower in decline. Ideology and willful ignorance divide us. There’s no way to come back from that. We’re in an abusive relationship. We might as well accept it, split up, and move on.
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| quora |
Published as an op-ed in the June 9 edition of the Conway Daily Sun Newspaper
4 comments:
I wish that things were so clear. Even in the most blue states, there are 40% that are red. Same the other way around in red states. They aren't going to move and neither are we. So consider what would happen if there was this divorce. The south would become a military state with limited voting rights for those not white and rich. The north would continue to try and allow representation by their 40% bigots. Separation is just not going to happen. Have some pity on the blues below the red line.
Yes the logistics of this would be difficult, like any divorce, but that doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do. It may be the only viable choice left, and the fact that it would be so difficult to do is a sad commentary on how hard a spot we're in. The original post suggested that people would move to a country more fitting with their ideology. That would have to be part of the divorce decree. House swaps could be made Incentives could be put in place to encourage migration. Constitutions could be written is such a way as to strongly encourage those who disagree to migrate by making it virtually impossible to change the things with which they disagree.
But there is a ray of hope coming out of Kansas, where the Republican legislature has just thrown out Governor Brownback's disastrous conservative nirvana no tax, no services economic plan in favor of higher taxes and increased government services. We'll see if that's an indication of a swing back towards more progressive government, or just an anomaly.
I just wonder if I'll live long enough to find out...
I don't think that "difficult" is extreme enough. If you would like to test my theory, just ask a Free Stater if he is willing to move to South Carolina. Think Pakistan and the partition of India. Then there is the theory (mine so far) that the next generation will undo all this separation. I think it will be found that the amount of control exhibited by the Amygdala determines whether you are a Cantservative (motivated by fear and jealousy), or liberal (motivated by kindness and cooperation). Unless there is some genetic change, these "laurels" will continue to be handed out randomly.
A nice post!
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