Ever since the 2020 Presidential Election ended… Well… Before that — I’ve kind of been wondering if the United States should go ahead and split up while we can peacefully do so. This isn’t a radical thought that I’m presenting (I don’t think) – I really am trying to be practical.
In this post, I’ll try to present why I think splitting up the United States may be the best course of action for us to consider. Yes – it’s a complicated idea, but hear me out. I’m actually trying to be objective here. And if I piss you off, let’s talk in the comment section.
I am FULLY open to the idea that this could be a TERRIBLE thought that would lead to a Hunger Games-style situation, but when I think of the modern-day alternative (something along the line of The Purge) – this doesn’t sound so bad.
First – Here’s What I Think We Should Do
The more thought I give to this, the more I believe the US should be split into 3 or 5 (has to be an odd number) smaller territories – and act as a “United Coalition” in the same way that the European Union typically operates. Each territory should have its own president (who is part of a council of leadership) and operating government bodies. And the Military, under the authority of the council of 3 or 5 presidents, and the Supreme Court still serve the entire Coalition.
Please note – everything won’t go across the entire Coalition, that would defeat the purpose of the split. But things like trans-territorial travel, what currency we use, business & trade, air travel, going to war, maintaining our military, etc. – those would be the issues the leadership council votes and coordinates on. Those 3 or 5 presidents should represent their territories on major issues, like the ones mentioned, that govern the entire Coalition and help maintain the peace among the Coalition.
In a Bit More Detail…
If it’s 3 territories – we go with Western, Central, and Eastern regions. If it’s 5 territories, throw in Northern and Southern regions.
While their economies would operate independently, the Central portion would initially remain “America’s breadbasket” as their main source of income. Competition between the Eastern and Western regions will stop them from monopolizing anything regarding Tech, Financial Markets, etc. The Northern and Southern regions, if they existed, would kind of see benefits from each region spread across its territory.
The Supreme Court’s primary role is to make sure this won’t happen, and their legislative arm will still run through all court systems in the land & they can command the military if needed to implement certain laws (with certain conditions — e.g. a majority of the presidential council would need to greenlight the law enforcement).
I won’t explain the entire theory here, but I’m super happy to discuss this with anyone & it’s cool to talk about because it’s just me musing. None of this will actually happen.
Plus, as I said earlier, I’m not sure how to fight off the Hunger Games future where some territories become subjugated to the whims of the other territories.
But I kind of feel like we’re already there because our electoral college system seems to be based on landmass vs. population density, and this just seems like a preferable system compared to what exists. You don’t have as much dissatisfaction around the country this way, because people would live in areas they are more ideologically aligned with.
If we don’t do that – we have bits of this current world I’m about to describe (which I think lead us to eventually flirting with the idea of another Civil War).
Currently – Half of the US will Always Hate Our Government
Argue the percentages of the Trump vs. Biden all that you want, but half of this country identifies with one political party and the other half identifies with another (widely generalizing there). And sadly, that’s all because people know they kind of don’t have anywhere to go in a 2-party system (more on that later).
I just feel like that’s a somewhat inferior way to govern.
And how does anything get done? Politicians have done an amazing job of presenting the Divided States of America with their policies and tactics in my lifetime vs. showing we are one united people. Both sides strongly disagree with each other about nearly everything now, and a lot happens out of either spite or ideologies that at least half of the country doesn’t agree with at one point or another.
We Can’t Come Together on “Basic” Things
If I discuss any topics along the lines of Medical Care for all; a woman’s right to choose what happens with her body; defining a “living wage”; Diversity and racial-anything; human impact on the environment; anything related to LGBTQ+; Gun Rights; taxing the wealthy; free education; Tolerance (more on this later); etc. – you will likely have a strong reaction one way or the other.
We can’t even agree on how to handle an actual pandemic or whether or not science is real (basically). The list of things like this runs long because we don’t even agree on what is fact vs. what is fiction as a people.
If we can’t agree on simple things, or what is even core rights anymore – how do we function as a unit? Frankly, I don’t feel like we do. Not much longer anyway.
We Have Become a “Pick a Side” Culture
Honestly… This all probably has something to do with the rise of Social Media, but the “bubble-factions” people are in now run strong. I sense that people feel, “You are either with me or against me,” on the issues I mentioned above. And if you aren’t on the same side of an issue, chances are – you aren’t likely going to remain civil with each other for long these days.
If you’re Democrat or Republican and younger (touching on the 2-party system bit I mentioned earlier), you don’t really get down with the other side, on a human-level, once you know political affiliations. Sure – you may work together in the same office – but that even becomes stressed once you know that your coworker is a devout MAGA Trumper or that “Black Lives Matter”. I hope we try a better way at some point.
There is a deep-rooted division that I’ve heard between friends on either side when we speak privately.
Each side is a little disgusted that the other voted for the other in the last election of the one before it. And, I mean – that’s easy to do when you only have two parties to vote for and they’re set-up as divided enemies.
Hats off to Trump for using his ability to manipulate the masses to push that division even further in 4-years time. The United States’ top-down division has settled grudgingly into the people at the lower levels of the established system.
Minorities Aren’t Minor Anymore
Donald Trump represented a reaction from a portion of Americans to the presidency of Barack Obama. I hate to say that, but that’s just really what it looks like. I agree with what Van Jones said back in 2016. But that was in 2016. I don’t think we can say that was the case for half of the country in 2020.
The US Census Bureau estimated that “White alone, not Hispanic or Latino” people represented 60.1% of the 2019 US population.
There has always been racism in this country. There have always been angry riots and violence at times, too. But this just feels a little different now. Especially because there is a lot of anger out there overflowing from racial groups of all kinds.
I wrote something to try to explain America’s current racial division a little while ago and posted it to my LinkedIn before this blog was around, and I don’t think much has changed since I wrote that. Without reiterating it word-for-word, I’ll just say that large swathes of the country lack empathy for anyone who doesn’t look like them (again – among racial groups of all kinds).
There is More, But…
To come back around to what I mentioned earlier about “Tolerance” – I think our ability to live peacefully with what we find “intolerable” will be of the utmost importance over the next decade or two in this country. And I think that’s all around. I know plenty of people who are very “open-minded” until they see or hear something that they disagree with.
We don’t have to agree with everything, but we have to be able to live with others who hold different views than we do. And considering that our country seems to be 50/50 on damn near everything – your chances of coming across someone who doesn’t agree with you is pretty high unless you’re just insulating yourself (which a lot of people are).
Holding Tight
I am mainly venting in this post just because I’m tired. I think that’s what it really comes down to. I have my moral sounding board and everything, but I’m not so full of myself as to think I’m absolutely right. I still love my country, and I’ll try to maintain a bit of optimism about the future – but these last few years have been ROUGH in terms of our internal relations as a country. How about we all promise to do our part to try and keep this thing glued together?
I rambled, but I’m curious what others think. Has the great American experiment failed? Should we go ahead and divide the country along ideological lines, or do we keep things blended and run the risk of imploding?
This is a meaty one, and if you got this far… You’re amazing.
Peace, and thanks for reading.
The soundtrack for this post provided by…
Image Credits:
– Cover Image © Antonov Roman (Shutterstock)
– Body Image 1 © chrupka (Shutterstock)
– Body Images 2 – 7 © higyou (Shutterstock)
– Body Image 8 © MvanCaspel (Shutterstock)