National Divorce

I'll briefly discuss this idea of a national divorce, as it's likely that this American discussion will spill over to other western countries. The deep political and ideological divide between the reds and the blues has some people, predominantly on the red side, speculating on the possibility of a two-state solution.

Before I delve into the reasons why this idea is completely bonkers, let me first stress that the red-blue divide in America, as well as the conservative-progressive divide in other countries, is largely fake. It's made up of a web of interacting components like sensationalism, propaganda, online algorithms and partisan rhetoric, again predominantly from the reactionary conservatives. This is nothing new; it's world-history in a nutshell. Conservatives have always been, and will always be the side that's threatened by a progressing world, and they'll always be the reactionaries fighting against the inevitable. However, when Americans are polled on individual policies, there's suddenly a large overlap between the reds and the blues, and it appears that most Americans agree on blue policies; raising the minimum wage, legalizing marijuana, medicare for all, social safety net, right to abortion (up until a point and under special circumstances), they all have popular support on both sides.

The divide we see in public discourse is largely centered around reactionary conservative talking points. Talking points that often have little or no relation to actual facts, or are statistically insignificant; the stolen election of 2020, CRT in K-12 education, children being "sexualized" by the 1.6 million Americans aged 13+ who identify as transgender... These are non-topics that nonetheless shape the battle of ideas that was once the marketplace of ideas. In fact, it's the marketplace of ideas that resulted in this battlefield when the honest exchange of ideas became commoditized through the attention economy. Treating human attention as a scarce resource, as is the way of capitalism, has created a public square where sensationalist and polarizing headlines, topics and clickbait have become the norm. The red-blue divide is artificial and largely the result of right-wing fear of progressivism, which is why the "national divorce" is a right-wing invention.

The main reason why even contemplating this divorce is ridiculous, is because it's a refutation of the very foundation of the United States that's based on liberalism. The idea of America, according to all its defenders, left and right, is based on the notion of many different people with many different hopes and dreams, personal freedom, being able to live together, to make it work somehow despite the many social, political and ideological differences. It's at the very roots of democracy and the republic. Another reason is that no thought has been given, apparently, to what happens after the divorce. Within the blue states there'll be a discussion between the progressive side and the moderates; given enough time that'll lead to yet another divide. In the red states the crowd that identify as MAGA Trumpists will want to excommunicate the "rinos" (Republican In Name Only). After Trump that acronym became synonymous with his critics in the party.

There are many more reasons why this idea, which is taking right-wing extremism to its logical conclusion, is unwise. The atomization of society has gone too far already, and it would be terrible if this idea would gain grounding internationally. That's my opinion anyway. In the below linked video you'll find a discussion on this topic between two people who both identify as libertarian. Personally I also hope you'll see all the fundamental flaws in their basic ideology under capitalism. Watch it and make up your own mind...

_{source: Wikipedia}

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