In the Pledge of Allegiance, Americans vow that we are all “One nation. Under God. Indivisible…” Um, yeah. OK. Although it sounds good in a speech, are these words at all accurate or is it a great big bushel of bullshit? To put it another way, is the United States truly “united” or are we in a place to start discussing a DIVORCE?
Current Events
On paper, the United States of America is a collection of 50 individual states all united under one belief system of laws, freedom, and democracy. However, in actuality, the United States of America is far from “united.” The US is really a collection of 50 individual states under one government, but with a cacophony of belief systems that are frequently in conflict with one another.
For example, the State of California and much of the Northeast US is extremely liberal. These Americans are usually open thinkers, compassionate in helping their fellow citizens, completely accepting of homosexuality, gay marriage and/or racially mixed marriage, and more. However, the Southern “Bible Belt” of the US is extremely conservative. These Americans typically think with blinders on, are extremely religious, are opposed to gay marriage or racially mixed marriages, and have a powerful affinity for guns. In fact, the 2016 presidential election of Donald Trump proved just how much most Americans are polar opposites of each other and only drifting further apart in shared commonalities.
For years, the State of Texas has been pleading to be allowed to secede from the United States. Perhaps we can finally grant them their wish and agree to an amicable divorce that simply cut ties with Texas and a variety of additional southern and mountain states as well. Then Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Nebraska, Wyoming, and several similar states can all go be on their own and take Donald Trump with them as their leader. They can maintain a preferred government-run news agency that tells them only what their government wants them to know. They can be a “Whites Only” society consisting of the “white working class”, the extravagantly wealthy, conservative Christians, and millions who feel threatened by social change and the advancements of the newly-arrived. They can be a land where Caucasians are not only the majority, but Muslims, Mexicans, and Blacks are extinct and a thing of the past.
As for California, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, and several similar states, they can then exist as their own sovereignty and create a Utopia of urban elites, the multiracial underclass, and new immigrants where Fox News is not permitted, guns are neither allowed nor needed, and gays, interracial couples and babies, as well as affordable housing, universal health care, and lending a helping hand to a fellow citizen is ALL welcomed!
Current Events
In its current form, America is an oddly diverse nation of over 300 million people. So, wouldn’t it make more sense to take a page from the former USSR and divide this humongous nation up into a hundred million people each? Or perhaps create 300 separate countries with a million people each? Why should congressional representatives from Alabama continue to control what New Yorkers want to do? Why should California voters have a say in what Mississippi residents want to do??
We tend to take the permanence of the Union for granted, but perhaps we shouldn’t. Perhaps that is more wishful thinking than rational thinking. Just because it has always been doesn’t mean it always should be. Yes, there are those of us who are sentimental, reluctant to change, and want the United States to remain the “storybook” single country we’ve known and loved since birth. However, has the United States ever REALLY been truly “united?” Is it time we consider ridding ourselves of a coat that no longer fits? Is it time for the US of A to seriously consider a divorce?
This is a real good topic DJ and it has me thinking. One part of me says we need to break it up because the United States has never been united. When you go all the way back to slavery and look at the civil war and all that we have been divided from the start. So why keep trying to force something that never worked is a good question. But if we break up we would not be a world power any more and could be open to war and a lot of other risk. So we might be stuck with each other. I want to see what some other people have to say before I add some more.