We are one country, indivisible. We need ONE flag, not two or three as official flags. It is perfectly fine to hoist a confederate flag on private property. But only ONE flag, The Old Glory meaning stars and stripes for ever, should fly on Federal government buildings. State Buildings can fly state flag along with stars and stripes.
No, we are most definitely NOT one nation. We are at least two distinct nations, sharing a common border and (more or less) a common language. We are liberals, conservatives and a spectrum of others and the splits between us are getting wider every day. Any possibility the divides might be bridged is negligible, giving way to eventual balkanization.
However much we might wish it to be otherwise we must - sooner or later - come to the conclusion that voting got us into this position but will never get us out of it. Already we see people leaving California faster than they can be replaced, even by illegal - er, undocumented immigrants. Where are they going? Texas, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana - to name a few.
We are gradually segregating ourselves from those we feel uncomfortable with. It is an entirely normal and natural response of all forms of life. That’s why fish gather in schools, to ensure the life of the species. It also explains why deer don’t intermingle with elk, why crabgrass chokes out everything else and takes over your lawn. Black families aren’t forced into small sections of the cities, they just prefer to live with people like themselves and since they only comprise 12-15% of the total population their ‘enclaves’ are generally smaller, with a smaller tax-base which gives way to less maintenance of the infrastructure.
What to do about all this? First we must embrace the fact that while the various states may be somewhat united the individual people are not. They differ politically, ideologically, physically and intellectually. The ‘melting pot’ that we’ve heard so much about actually has a lot of solid chunks floating in the soup.