The following is a rambling set of ideas that I put into a stream of consciousness in order to explore a new concept that might resolve the great political divide in the U.S. today. It is in no way a complete thesis or even a serious suggestion. It is just an idea to be discussed, so don’t take it too seriously. I’m not a political scientist, I just play one on TV. I’m sure it is full of holes and can be ripped apart pretty easily, but maybe these thoughts do need to be debated. In fact, it may be an absolutely terrible idea, but as Winston Churchill supposedly said, “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the rest!”
Perhaps the time has come to think about a soft separation. Not an actual divorce, they can be quite messy with lots of unexpected repercussions. No, more like an informal agreement to see other people.
This may be the simplest and easiest solution to the political fissure that divides the U.S. into two very adamant and self-righteous camps. I’m not talking about the complete dissolution of the Republic from its current constitutional form, but more like a realignment of the federal relationship between the states. What I’m proposing is allowing the states to basically pick a side in the political and cultural wars that we’re stubbornly fighting and follow a separate constitutional path in alignment with other like-minded states.
The U.S. would essentially become two confederations in a loose alliance with a federal government that still was responsible for foreign policy and defense while the each of the two new unions would decide their own domestic and constitutional policies for internal affairs. Each state would individually decide which new republic that it would join but would perpetually retain the option of switching its membership in the future, should its internal politics change.
At this point in our history, red and blue America have reached unavoidable impasses when it comes to many critical issues of basic rights, public safety, environmental law and so many other issues where it seems that there is no middle ground. Perhaps there shouldn’t be a middle ground. Maybe there simply is no way to reconcile these differences. But learning to live with each other seems to be getting more and more difficult by the day.
I am aware that most of our political divisions today are not state by state but more of a rural vs. urban nature. That would leave a lot of people who are on the opposite side of the divide stranded in foreign territory. That’s why the provision of allowing a state to realign itself gives those “trapped” an opportunity to fight to switch their state’s allegiance.
As I said above, this is probably a terrible idea, but maybe out of this concept, a new and better idea of how to help the U.S. get to a more stable and prosperous future can be born.