Let's be honest here... We ARE a hopelessly divided nation. There will be NO grand reunification with the American left. We despise them, they despise us. We are 2 countries occupying the same geographical space. The bad news? There IS NO middle ground.
As a realist, ibsee only 2 ways forward...
1) Partition. This is the smartest way to go. Divorce. And go ourvseparate ways BEFORE bloodshed takes place.
2) Civil war/ Revolution. If a peaceful partition fails to take place, the 2 sides will inevitably climb in the ring and battle it out. And this scenario could be MUCH closer than people think...
The American right has exercised a lot of patience and deference to the antagonizing, violence and demonization thus far. But that is not going to keep. They are beginning to fray at the edges now.
And just wait yntil inflation REALLY kicks in and the armed American right start going hungry... Because of LEFTIST-IMPOSED folly....
The Arab Spring? Started in a market in Cairo over a food cart dispute. It spread to 15 countries and toppled 4 govts.
Option 1 or option 2... We're running out of time.
I consider keeping the country functional and together to be an uphill struggle. Is it possible? I don't know, but I don't think anyone will look back on trying to make it all work and feel like the time wasn't well spent. Especially since what would come after is highly likely to be far worse.
I would suggest that Option 1, Partition, is functionally impossible. They simply will not permit us to leave. After all, we grow their food, generate their electricity, build and maintain their roads, deliver their amazon, et al. They absolutely will not allow partition.
That leaves Option 2, which is the terrifying, ugly, Balkanization of the United States.
I agree with Washington Nearsider that partition is not actually possible. A long time ago I quit looking at the election results by state. I look at the results by county. A very good map is found here: https://brilliantmaps.com/?s=2020+election+by+county This map uses five shades each of red and blue to show not only how a county voted, but how strong the vote was. There are only four states that are completely blue--Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont. There are only two states that are completely red--West Virginia and Oklahoma. Even in New York, most of the land area of the state is red.
And a civil war is not really viable. In 1861, the southern states at least seemed to have a contiguous area. The blue areas do not. I live in Indiana, which has five blue counties out of 92. Three of those are dominated by college towns, hosting Purdue, IU, and Notre Dame. The other two blue counties are dominated by Indianapolis and the Gary/Hammond area, next to Chicago. There are other universities in Indiana, but they were only able to make their counties lighter red.
There are a few blue rural areas, but for the most part, the strength of the Left is in the cities. All the population in the cities are an advantage in elections; in a civil war, they will be a liability. Those city dwellers will expect to continue having food, electricity, and fuel for heating and transportation--and nearly all of that comes from outside the city limits. And they can be cut off by whoever controls the countryside. The British lost the American Revolution because they could not control the countryside. They could take any city; but it wasn't enough.
I am not saying things won't get ugly--I am afraid they will get quite ugly. And the costs could be very high. Biden has muttered about having F-15s, and one Democrat has bragged about using nukes. Nukes are effective against dense cities--they will not have as much effect in open country. And while the US military ran an airlift to feed Berlin in 1947, that was only one city--not fifty or more. And where will they get the fuel for airlifts?
I think our best hope is that the Establishment (of both parties--Angelo Codevilla laid it out in 2010) finds their coalition breaking up. The Dems have already lost the white blue-collar workers. So far the blacks have stuck with them, although some years ago, many of the rank-and-file resented the gay lobby claiming the aura of the Civil Rights Movement. Currently feminists and lesbians are starting to turn against the transgender activists. Even upscale suburban parents are starting to turn against what is being pushed in schools. Our best hope is that the hard Left loses too much of their support.
Dangerous Totalitarian State&Local Cops&Apparatchiks who think that - "One of the fundamental principles of good government is that a government should have a monopoly of force." - gladly take the bankster money, ignore the constitution, erect a lawfare survielance state... and proudly become the boot stamping on the face of humanity, forever.
It's refreshing to read such thoughtful comments, thanks, everyone, for sharing your thoughts. I hope not to dumb down this discourse, but I'd like to add one thought that I've had, the old "frog in the pot of (warming) water." Secession is not desirable, especially to someone who has planned a retirement after government service, but it might be preferable to living under a government where we have been disenfranchised. What happens if/when the electoral college is eliminated, and it's a national majority then elects the president? Do the people living in flyover country who have then become serfs for the coastal, big city "elites" decide they need to act, and do they do it before it's too late? If it did become the only survivable course of action to save even part of America, I'm guessing that part of the Left's strategy will be to wait out guys like me- who understand why we once fought against communism- until we just naturally grey out/weaken, and die off, so they can then move without effective resistance. The "flag won't drop" in time, and the water will boil... Sorry to sound so dystopian but the trends are so ugly. Kurt Schlichter's "Kelly Turnbull" books naturally come to mind
For those commenters advocating for a national divorce, I hope you will stop and consider the raw geopolitical implications.
Q. Where is the highest concentration of leftist/liberal/progressive/Marxist hegemony found?
A. On the coasts.
Q. What is the single-largest geopolitical threat extant to the United States of America? (Hint: Islam comes in a close #2, but it's not THE biggest anymore)
A. The CCP
Do you really want to live in a landlocked country with literal communist belligerents on either coast, with said belligerents receiving open economic aid from the Chinese Communist Party? Cause if you get your "national divorce," your ex-spouse is going to fly right into the CCP's arms. At least with things the way they are now, our federal government requires a thin veneer of unity in order to keep up the lie of its legitimacy. Upon secession, particularly if/when secession happens along party lines, that veneer disappears, and I can't imagine it being better that way than it is now.
You raise some interesting points but as far as being landlocked? What are you talking about? The south? You have the entire gulf coast with Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama... Then BOTH coasts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia if they ever get rid of that commie legislature... So forgive me, i don't know what map you're looking at... Landlocked? Hardly...
So we lose the west coast ports. Who cares... Nothing is getting unloaded there anyway... As for the east coast, we lose everything from Baltimore north. I see nothing cataclysmic here, nothing that increasing existing ports or building new ones to augment wouldn't cure.
As far as the billion screaming Chinee just over the horizon? A few commie state govts may want em here but i would guarantee you... The vast majority of the CITIZENS? Would not.
The Chinese red army is the largest employer in the world with 2.5 million pairs of boots. And even they? Are not crazy enough to try to invade this continent, partitioned or not.... There are 140 million formal gun owners in this country NOT INCLUDING family members that can also shoot. At an easy 200 million gun operators, the invading Chinese would be outnumbered by over 100 to ONE.
Even the Bushido boys from WWII weren't crazy enough to attempt that.
If we want peace on this continent? I stand by my sentiment of partition before the blood starts spilling.
I mean Landlocked, Johnny. Unless you really believe that Gulf Coast states like Louisiana and Texas are reliable conservative bulwarks (HINT: They're not).
From a division standpoint, if the US broke up into 3 regions for example? All 3 regions would have their own ports. One less thing to squabble over at the poker table...
If you want to be read, you ought to publish your writing in readable b black, not this faddish light gray type. I skipped this because of that. Lots of people have trouble seeing as well as they used to, and competition on the internet is pretty fierce.
Partition is impractical. Look at Syria. The only practical solution is to defeat the Woke--at school boards, elections, social media, culture, work, everywhere.
I thought of a sixth scenario: a foolish and incompetent U.S. government goes to war with Red China and Russia, losing that war in dramatic fashion. I'm talking about tens of thousands of casualties in a matter of a few weeks, the destruction of dozens of ships and hundreds of planes, an EMP over the New York-Washington D.C. corridor, and a surrender that would guarantee the impoverishment of the country for decades.
THAT would be an incentive for flyover states (and maybe the West coast) to secede for their own survival, while limiting the ability of the Federal government to respond effectively.
Wow. The stupidity in this article is overwhelming. You keep going on about Antifa. You do know that stands for ANTI-fascists. SO by your tone and language, you seem to be in favor of fascists. Not only that, but you leave out that blue states pay for inept red states that can't fund themselves. Believe me when I say that as a high earner in a blue state, I am tired of paying for failed republican policies. The day Mississippi can pay its own way without my help is the day you can talk about secession. But you guys lost the last civil war and will lose again. That won't stop you from believing Jeebuz will win it for you. Seriously, I think there is a problem with red states and lead in the water.
There things: 1. ANTIFA is about as anti-fascist as Mussolini's Black Shirts. 2. Your representatives in the blue states vote for every government spending program. Whine to them about having to pay the taxes to support these programs in all fifty states. 3. "You guys" who lost the last Civil War were the Democrats.
"Antifa" is a name, not what they stand for. They are militant, violent and will attack anyone who disagrees with them, not actual "fascists." Their name is a cover for their own totalitarian mission. If you ask many of them what a fascist actually is they will stutter and give you a completely different definition. Most of them are just bored suburban white goths or trust funders "fightin' the man, dude!"
The trope of "blue states funding red states" is exactly that. When doing this analysis, expenditures on social security and military bases are included. It is such a shallow, dumb assertion that it's not even worth getting any further into it.
I live in a blue state and I pay the highest real estate taxes, sales taxes and overall taxes in the nation. I am tired of paying for failed blue state policies.
I say this country will become 3 nations, above Ky. east of the Mississippi. Ky South including Mississippi Louisiana Texas. The rest rest of the americas
I've thought about how the country would probably fragment. I think different regions breaking off into states would probably end up being the most likely scenario if it happened.
Let's be honest here... We ARE a hopelessly divided nation. There will be NO grand reunification with the American left. We despise them, they despise us. We are 2 countries occupying the same geographical space. The bad news? There IS NO middle ground.
As a realist, ibsee only 2 ways forward...
1) Partition. This is the smartest way to go. Divorce. And go ourvseparate ways BEFORE bloodshed takes place.
2) Civil war/ Revolution. If a peaceful partition fails to take place, the 2 sides will inevitably climb in the ring and battle it out. And this scenario could be MUCH closer than people think...
The American right has exercised a lot of patience and deference to the antagonizing, violence and demonization thus far. But that is not going to keep. They are beginning to fray at the edges now.
And just wait yntil inflation REALLY kicks in and the armed American right start going hungry... Because of LEFTIST-IMPOSED folly....
The Arab Spring? Started in a market in Cairo over a food cart dispute. It spread to 15 countries and toppled 4 govts.
Option 1 or option 2... We're running out of time.
I consider keeping the country functional and together to be an uphill struggle. Is it possible? I don't know, but I don't think anyone will look back on trying to make it all work and feel like the time wasn't well spent. Especially since what would come after is highly likely to be far worse.
We've BEEN trying to make it work... To no avail. And every year that passes, the left drives the wedge further.
I would suggest that Option 1, Partition, is functionally impossible. They simply will not permit us to leave. After all, we grow their food, generate their electricity, build and maintain their roads, deliver their amazon, et al. They absolutely will not allow partition.
That leaves Option 2, which is the terrifying, ugly, Balkanization of the United States.
sounds about right
I agree with Washington Nearsider that partition is not actually possible. A long time ago I quit looking at the election results by state. I look at the results by county. A very good map is found here: https://brilliantmaps.com/?s=2020+election+by+county This map uses five shades each of red and blue to show not only how a county voted, but how strong the vote was. There are only four states that are completely blue--Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont. There are only two states that are completely red--West Virginia and Oklahoma. Even in New York, most of the land area of the state is red.
And a civil war is not really viable. In 1861, the southern states at least seemed to have a contiguous area. The blue areas do not. I live in Indiana, which has five blue counties out of 92. Three of those are dominated by college towns, hosting Purdue, IU, and Notre Dame. The other two blue counties are dominated by Indianapolis and the Gary/Hammond area, next to Chicago. There are other universities in Indiana, but they were only able to make their counties lighter red.
There are a few blue rural areas, but for the most part, the strength of the Left is in the cities. All the population in the cities are an advantage in elections; in a civil war, they will be a liability. Those city dwellers will expect to continue having food, electricity, and fuel for heating and transportation--and nearly all of that comes from outside the city limits. And they can be cut off by whoever controls the countryside. The British lost the American Revolution because they could not control the countryside. They could take any city; but it wasn't enough.
I am not saying things won't get ugly--I am afraid they will get quite ugly. And the costs could be very high. Biden has muttered about having F-15s, and one Democrat has bragged about using nukes. Nukes are effective against dense cities--they will not have as much effect in open country. And while the US military ran an airlift to feed Berlin in 1947, that was only one city--not fifty or more. And where will they get the fuel for airlifts?
I think our best hope is that the Establishment (of both parties--Angelo Codevilla laid it out in 2010) finds their coalition breaking up. The Dems have already lost the white blue-collar workers. So far the blacks have stuck with them, although some years ago, many of the rank-and-file resented the gay lobby claiming the aura of the Civil Rights Movement. Currently feminists and lesbians are starting to turn against the transgender activists. Even upscale suburban parents are starting to turn against what is being pushed in schools. Our best hope is that the hard Left loses too much of their support.
The use of the term "bubba" is egregious. I own five guns and I'm no bubba.
scenario 1984:
Dangerous Totalitarian State&Local Cops&Apparatchiks who think that - "One of the fundamental principles of good government is that a government should have a monopoly of force." - gladly take the bankster money, ignore the constitution, erect a lawfare survielance state... and proudly become the boot stamping on the face of humanity, forever.
That is ... Repugnant.
re: "One of the fundamental principles of good government is that a government should have a monopoly of force."
Totalitarians think so.
But, ...
Govt Monopoly of Force is REPUGNANT to the Constitution and to the people of the Militia (the citizens of the country).
to argue "monopoly of force" is to argue for Overlords, Kings, slave mastets.
That is ... Repugnant.
Null and Void.
The beginning stages of a second Civil War, triggered by the 2020 lockdowns and riots, is a theme of this new political thriller:
THE OLD TOWN HORROR: Murder and Theft in America’s Most Historic Locale
https://www.amazon.com/OLD-TOWN-HORROR-Americas-Historic-ebook/dp/B0BX27RWYG
It's refreshing to read such thoughtful comments, thanks, everyone, for sharing your thoughts. I hope not to dumb down this discourse, but I'd like to add one thought that I've had, the old "frog in the pot of (warming) water." Secession is not desirable, especially to someone who has planned a retirement after government service, but it might be preferable to living under a government where we have been disenfranchised. What happens if/when the electoral college is eliminated, and it's a national majority then elects the president? Do the people living in flyover country who have then become serfs for the coastal, big city "elites" decide they need to act, and do they do it before it's too late? If it did become the only survivable course of action to save even part of America, I'm guessing that part of the Left's strategy will be to wait out guys like me- who understand why we once fought against communism- until we just naturally grey out/weaken, and die off, so they can then move without effective resistance. The "flag won't drop" in time, and the water will boil... Sorry to sound so dystopian but the trends are so ugly. Kurt Schlichter's "Kelly Turnbull" books naturally come to mind
For those commenters advocating for a national divorce, I hope you will stop and consider the raw geopolitical implications.
Q. Where is the highest concentration of leftist/liberal/progressive/Marxist hegemony found?
A. On the coasts.
Q. What is the single-largest geopolitical threat extant to the United States of America? (Hint: Islam comes in a close #2, but it's not THE biggest anymore)
A. The CCP
Do you really want to live in a landlocked country with literal communist belligerents on either coast, with said belligerents receiving open economic aid from the Chinese Communist Party? Cause if you get your "national divorce," your ex-spouse is going to fly right into the CCP's arms. At least with things the way they are now, our federal government requires a thin veneer of unity in order to keep up the lie of its legitimacy. Upon secession, particularly if/when secession happens along party lines, that veneer disappears, and I can't imagine it being better that way than it is now.
You raise some interesting points but as far as being landlocked? What are you talking about? The south? You have the entire gulf coast with Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama... Then BOTH coasts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia if they ever get rid of that commie legislature... So forgive me, i don't know what map you're looking at... Landlocked? Hardly...
So we lose the west coast ports. Who cares... Nothing is getting unloaded there anyway... As for the east coast, we lose everything from Baltimore north. I see nothing cataclysmic here, nothing that increasing existing ports or building new ones to augment wouldn't cure.
As far as the billion screaming Chinee just over the horizon? A few commie state govts may want em here but i would guarantee you... The vast majority of the CITIZENS? Would not.
The Chinese red army is the largest employer in the world with 2.5 million pairs of boots. And even they? Are not crazy enough to try to invade this continent, partitioned or not.... There are 140 million formal gun owners in this country NOT INCLUDING family members that can also shoot. At an easy 200 million gun operators, the invading Chinese would be outnumbered by over 100 to ONE.
Even the Bushido boys from WWII weren't crazy enough to attempt that.
If we want peace on this continent? I stand by my sentiment of partition before the blood starts spilling.
I mean Landlocked, Johnny. Unless you really believe that Gulf Coast states like Louisiana and Texas are reliable conservative bulwarks (HINT: They're not).
No... But i'll go with those before i go with west coast or northeast ports.
Seattle, Portland, Frisco LA, Baltimore, NY, Boston?
From a division standpoint, if the US broke up into 3 regions for example? All 3 regions would have their own ports. One less thing to squabble over at the poker table...
If you want to be read, you ought to publish your writing in readable b black, not this faddish light gray type. I skipped this because of that. Lots of people have trouble seeing as well as they used to, and competition on the internet is pretty fierce.
We live in a big country. The left controls only a relatively small area. These areas are more vulnerable and would not fare well in a conflict
Partition is impractical. Look at Syria. The only practical solution is to defeat the Woke--at school boards, elections, social media, culture, work, everywhere.
I thought of a sixth scenario: a foolish and incompetent U.S. government goes to war with Red China and Russia, losing that war in dramatic fashion. I'm talking about tens of thousands of casualties in a matter of a few weeks, the destruction of dozens of ships and hundreds of planes, an EMP over the New York-Washington D.C. corridor, and a surrender that would guarantee the impoverishment of the country for decades.
THAT would be an incentive for flyover states (and maybe the West coast) to secede for their own survival, while limiting the ability of the Federal government to respond effectively.
Wow. The stupidity in this article is overwhelming. You keep going on about Antifa. You do know that stands for ANTI-fascists. SO by your tone and language, you seem to be in favor of fascists. Not only that, but you leave out that blue states pay for inept red states that can't fund themselves. Believe me when I say that as a high earner in a blue state, I am tired of paying for failed republican policies. The day Mississippi can pay its own way without my help is the day you can talk about secession. But you guys lost the last civil war and will lose again. That won't stop you from believing Jeebuz will win it for you. Seriously, I think there is a problem with red states and lead in the water.
There things: 1. ANTIFA is about as anti-fascist as Mussolini's Black Shirts. 2. Your representatives in the blue states vote for every government spending program. Whine to them about having to pay the taxes to support these programs in all fifty states. 3. "You guys" who lost the last Civil War were the Democrats.
"Antifa" is a name, not what they stand for. They are militant, violent and will attack anyone who disagrees with them, not actual "fascists." Their name is a cover for their own totalitarian mission. If you ask many of them what a fascist actually is they will stutter and give you a completely different definition. Most of them are just bored suburban white goths or trust funders "fightin' the man, dude!"
The trope of "blue states funding red states" is exactly that. When doing this analysis, expenditures on social security and military bases are included. It is such a shallow, dumb assertion that it's not even worth getting any further into it.
I live in a blue state and I pay the highest real estate taxes, sales taxes and overall taxes in the nation. I am tired of paying for failed blue state policies.
‘Anti-Fa’ IS a fascist movement.
Well written and thoughtful essay. Agree 100%
I say this country will become 3 nations, above Ky. east of the Mississippi. Ky South including Mississippi Louisiana Texas. The rest rest of the americas
I've thought about how the country would probably fragment. I think different regions breaking off into states would probably end up being the most likely scenario if it happened.