Is Secession a Solution?

Is it time to split the United States apart?

Rush Limbaugh, conservative bigot and Medal of Freedom recipient, dropped a little bomb on his listeners the other day.

Bemoaning the fact that Republicans have not only lost the presidency but the culture wars as well, he said, “I actually think that we’re trending toward secession. I see more and more people asking what in the world do we have in common with the people who live in, say, New York? … There cannot be a peaceful coexistence of two completely different theories of life, theories of government, theories of how we manage our affairs. We can’t be in this dire a conflict without something giving somewhere along the way.”

I have been asking the same question that Limbaugh is asking for years. What in the world do Angelinos have in common with the people who live in places like Kansas or Oklahoma? I live in Los Angeles and have more in common with the people in San Francisco and NYC. Wheat fields and corn fields are important but my concerns are totally different then farmers. Farmers and ranchers aren’t concerned with homelessness and sufficient wages to pay the rent.

From abortion rights, to LGBTQ rights, to use of the death penalty, to gun ownership rights, Blue and Red states hold diametrically opposite views.

As to the Civil War, Lincoln may have kept the country together but at what price? Did the North really win? Southerners still resent the Yankees (Northerners). Jefferson Davis’ birthday is a state holiday in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The Confederate battle flag is still flown in Southern states.

California’s relationship with the federal government has been a non-stop battle on issues from immigration to air pollution.

States like Wyoming and the Dakotas with populations less than the San Fernando Valley have an equal voice in the Senate with the 40 million population California. People in Idaho, western Washington state, and parts of California and Oregon have dreams of a new state with laws that would conform with their social values.

So yes, there are so many things dividing us and that this really is the Un-United States of America. Splitting this nation apart doesn’t seem like a bad idea.