IAM-CR: A FREEREPUBLIC ALLIANCE EFFORT
TO RESTORE THE CONSTITUTION
Posted on 04/08/2010 10:38:04 AM PDT by Neoliberalnot
A proposal to divide the United States into two countries
I post this article with a sense of ambivalence, since, notwithstanding the author's boldness and originality of thought, his proposal presents grave practical difficulties which in my view he deals with only superficially. However, as I myself have said, with the passage of the health care bill America has now become in effect two mutually irreconcilable peoples (they want to impose unlimited state power on us, which we don't want to be imposed), and the only two logical resolutions to the conflict are that one side crush and dominate the other, or that the two sides go their separate ways. There is no escape from thinking our way through the current crisis, and we have to start somewhere. Jeffersonian's article is a useful contribution to that effort. (Readers' comments on the article begin here.)
THE REDS AND THE BLUES: TIME FOR A DIVORCE? By Jeffersonian
In the aftermath of the presidential election of 2000, a newspaper published a map of the United States in which the counties that had voted for George W. Bush were colored red, and those that had voted for Al Gore were colored blue. The result was striking: The blue counties made up only a small fraction of the area of the United States, but included roughly half of the total population. Outside the Northeast, the map consisted mostly of a large expanse of red, interrupted by geographically small, but densely populated, urban areas. (Note that even though the original map showed the country divided into counties, it has given rise to the terms "red states" and "blue states." Note also, that the term "Red" in this context has no implication of Communist sympathies. )
In recent weeks there has been a furor over the health care bill. This is partly because its opponents feel that it is an extremely bad bill: one which will not improve their health care, but instead add enormously to the public debt. Even more disturbing than the contents of the bill, however, is the fact that it was passed despite the clear opposition of the American public. Every national poll for months had shown that a significant majority of the public did not like this bill; and in the weeks preceding the vote, Congress had been besieged by letters, emails, faxes, and telephone calls from constituents, with the great majority opposing the bill. Those who urged congressmen to vote for the bill did not pretend that the majority of the public was on their side; rather, they urged congressmen to be "courageous" and ignore public opinion.
They claimed (correctly) that doing so did not violate the Constitution. However, it did violate our traditions on the relation of the government to the governed. This is the first time in American history that a major bill has been forced through over the clear opposition of the public. Even if the law itself is beneficial, the manner of its passage was semi-tyrannical, and the social fabric has been badly torn.
One of the commentors was very astute. He wondered what would happen to the white blues when they no longer had the conservative reds within their nation to blame for the ills of their country - racism, wars, poverty, budgetary shortfalls, etc. We currently serve as a buffer and a scapegoat for the liberal white blues. Not to mention the fact that we largely fund the country with our work ethic. Without us, they would have to face an equal number of non-whites in their country who would inevitably become very angry and disgruntled with the state of affairs in a truly liberal blue America. Let's face it - their economy would be in a total shambles in no time. It already IS even with us contributing to it!
I have no workable answers, but I do think some kind of political breakup will come upon us at some point in the next decade. I just hope it is largely bloodless.
Mark for later.
I am actually starting to believe that is what we need to do. We are so divided and it is getting worse. I would be all for dividing the country, north and south. North to the libs and south to the conservatives. And we get to keep the military. North gets Obama.
Soap box.
Ballot box.
Jury box.
Ammo box.
Each in its own turn. We have a couple more tries.
Saw somebody make the astute point (regarding this sort of separation idea) that unfortunately the parasites aren’t going to let the hosts leave peaceably. I’d love to move somewhere where those of us willing to pull the cart instead of ride it could congregate. Galt’s Gulch, perhaps.
It is a completely different story this time. The slaves are not slaves of color. They are the slaves of honesty and an ethic for hard work and freedom of the most basic sort.
The Have-nots are dependant on the Haves for money, and the Goverment depends on the Have-nots for votes. Therefore, the Goverment will never let the Haves leave peacefully.
This was seen in the Civil War. The northern states depended on the southern argri-business. So, they could not let them just leave over state's rights. The issue of slavery, which needed to be addressed, was not attached to the CW until after it had begun.
The left isn’t going to let us go.
They need our money too badly.
Define largely.
We might have to try it again... or live in servitude.
It would be better if we could demand Constitutional government based on Federalism because that is the key to keeping such a diverse set of people under the same federal government. The other option is through blunt force... so, if we can’t use states to force the feds to back off, the only option left is to say “see ya!”.a
Sorry, to all the “win in 2010” people... but there’s just too big of a mess in D.C. for that to be even moderately successful. States must reign in the beast, or must get the hell out.
I didn’t post that. At this point I just want to separate from liberals.
I agree with your analysis. However, there are plenty of “Haves” in NY and CA for them to continue to extort.
Let the rest of us (Mountains and the South) seperate.
Sorry, that was aimed at the author, not at you!
At this point, some sort of a credible threat of succession needs to be on the table just to get the animals' attention and get their minds focused.
This is not hopeless.
Study what Quebec did in Canada for many years - just the threat of separation can used to extract an endless stream of concessions! Especially when the non-productive Blue states will be desperate for the Red states’ cash, the bribes should be easy.
And then in the end, you can still separate, but you need those years of preparing the public’s expectations first.
Just in case you may not have noticed, everybody has color. Whites, blacks, Latinos, Asians, etc., all have color.
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