“The Perihelion” by D. M. Wozniak actually describes a US after a red-state, blue urban core split.
The nation votes for an amicable divorce. The cities put up walls and barriers you can’t pass without permission and an implanted ID. They build roads and rail networks that just connect with each other but mostly just fly across the red country.
You can immigrate one way or the other, but few do. They all split during the amicable divorce. It was seen as the solution to a civil war.
Then the red zones have their laws, the blue cores have theirs. And then a few of the genetically engineered the blue cores created start to revolt.
I used to compulsively read science fiction but now have rejected it. My weird ways of doin things.
That book you mentioned sounds interesting, though. I guess I could pretend it’s like the Fail Safe and Red Storm Rising types and read it. Thanks for the info.
If you have skills and training and the place you can use them is a few miles away, but on the other side of the wall, you'd have to go through checkpoints or wait until a plant is built on your side of the wall, and even then it may be miles away on the other side of the city.
But of course, separation isn't going to happen. Most people aren't that into politics.
P.S. F.H. Buckley isn't the lost Buckley brother. He's a guy originally from Saskatoon. Of course he wants the US to break up.