Strongly agree on both points which is why I am moving more and more towards favoring more muscular use of the residual rights of the states, up to and including secesion as our best hope of settlement w/o violence, of our differences. As the old saying goes: good fences make good neighbors. We need a few more fences in the USA.
The first step is moving away from the most likely conflict zones, and moving into what will hopefully be a safe and stable area.