This is a continuation of yesterday’s post about a divorce between Red America and Blue America. This time I will start putting forward my rather warped view of how that might happen. If you missed yesterday’s post that started this discussion I would recommend that you click the “Home” button at the top of this page and see the post from yesterday directly below this one. Now on to the matter at hand.
Our flag is just too tattered to even recognize it any more. It might be time to go our separate ways but how do we divide up what we currently have? The divide between Red America and Blue America has always been there but it has become a deep abyss in the last almost forty years. I could start this divorce with in November 2016 but that would not really represent anywhere close to reality. That year was the result of laziness of Blue America to put their voices forward. It allowed Red State America to push forward their extreme candidate.
Now I realize that no State except maybe for Texas (those people are beyond description) is all Red or Blue so there will have to be some migration as a result of this divorce. You could say we all will be the children of divorce. Since it doesn’t seem possible to move between our Red and Blue parents we gotta find another way. For a solution you gotta start somewhere and I propose to do that with the 2012 electoral map.
Looking at the map some things pop up. The northeast and west seem pretty blue so that is probably the core for Blue America. But in order to make a country viable it needs to be connected. To do that means that Indiana, Montana, North Dakota and Arizona will have to give up some land. The question is how much? Part of the answer is apportioning by population and that is where the next map comes in. It l
ooks strange because the map is proportioned by population of each State.
Looking at this population map there just aren’t many people in North Dakota or Montana. Maybe we could give all those folks who don’t want to be part of Blue America a million bucks each to migrate south and just move those States from Red to Blue? Since the northern part of Indiana is pretty much blue I think we could work out a 30-70 split without a lot of work. I don’t mean to totally ignore the fact that Idaho is in play with a small strip but since no one likely lives in that sliver of Idaho no one would even notice that it switched from red to blue.
Arizona and Utah need to turn blue too so let’s swap those two States for Florida. Population wise the trade would benefit the Red States so they just might buy into it. Now with all this initial swapping done what would Red America and Blue America look like? I will hold off on showing you that until the next post in this series early next week.
If you want to chime in on all this silliness put in your two cents now or forever hold your peace. 🙂 I never said that my view of the world was a totally sane one.
RJ's Corner 
I am from the UK but the situation in the States seems to be beyond worrying and alarming to me. Great article
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Its alarming to me too Peter. At times I think about returning to my roots, as distant as they are, to just escape this insanity and retire to the UK. It seems just about all the TV I watch now comes from there anyway. 🙂
But then again I just you guys are not without your problems with Brexit…
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I think that the country works best when there is push and pull. Really good marriages go through struggles. Divorce is rarely an answer. The food producers, even in California, tend to be very red. Ranchers, farmers tend to desire protection from predators and know how to keep things growing. I think the cities would be lost without them. But, it might be worth a try.
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I agree Jenette that push and pull are good things as long as in the end a compromise is made. I just don’t see that happening now or maybe never again. That is the depressing part about our times. Yeah, there are Red and Blue in every State…
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Here is a different suggestion – same possible results. Follow “states rights to the core”. Outside of the “common defense” and a few other things the Federal government should do return all other functions to the states.
Reduce federal taxes to the minimum to run these [few] federal programs and let the states get money for their local programs as they see fit. We would still have the current federal structure but laws and decisions would only be made for things that MUST be done to keep the states functioning together from an economic viewpoint and probably human rights viewpoint. Not sure exactly what or how.
Don’t want abortion in your state? state law decides. Want to crack down on immigration – go for it, Want loose/strict gun laws – your choice, Fund good education or not – have at it, etc. Want religious tests to hold public office – have fun. Social Security – locally funded, Medicare too. Social programs – local funding and administered. Don’t like your current state – then you are free to move. Let states compete for population. We wouldn’t really be a country anymore but it does not seem like people care about that anyway.
Over time people will relocate to the place they want to be – problem solved. no shots fired, no anger at Washington, no forced moves, free choice for everyone.
Not sure how companies would react. I can see where states with better living conditions would get the “good” companies and others would probably have more local companies where the talent needed is available. That part is a bit fuzzy but I’m sure it would work out over time.
Lots to work out but this way the “divorce” would be more natural and allow for a gradual and peaceful transition. Maybe even let a state “opt out” of being governed by federal laws. That way Texas can “do their own thing”.
What do you think.?
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That’s a good alternate agenda you got there Bob but we already tried that a couple hundred years ago when we were only 13 States. It proved unworkable then so I wouldn’t give it much hope now. If we have 50 totally independent State making their own laws the interstate highway system would quickly become a disaster. We could easily go from a 6 lane highway to a gravel road when moving between two state. Does each State have their own immigration laws. If so when we travel from one State to another do we have to get a visa? How would a company in one State sell something in another State. You get the idea. We are just too interconnected for it to be 50 different systems for everything. Break it into just two separate countries and it is more manageable.
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Not sure why I did not see your reply in my email. Thought I had checked the box to get notifications. Maybe I forgot to accept the notifications. Anyway…
I thought we tried the divorce in 1861 and that did not work either. Maybe if we did a “no fault” version.
The issue with your divorce is similar – how would we drive from NY to CA if we had to leave the country? same with flying if the Reds enforced a no fly zone over them. I think I remember reading an excerpt from a book with this premise and it was not pretty. If we can’t get along now being 2 countries would be even worse – like N and S Korea.
My plan had the federal covering things like interstates and postal and things such as this to manage the economic stuff. If we kept the social programs local then each state could have their own immigration enforcement plans – sanctuary states? Maybe have regional governments of several contiguous states for some more local issues.
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I think many (if not most people) are more like me…. not red or blue, but speckled! I go left on some issues and right on others. And I absolutely detest politicians of both parties. I think they (and the media) are driving the divide. With term limits and people in office who actually care about the country and not just their own ambitions we might find that we don’t need a divorce. But I may be wrong, because so many people (red and blue) are filled with unjustified hate. It would take awhile to change that.
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Thanks for the thoughts Judy. Yeah I am not all blue by traditional standards. I am a fiscal conservative but as baby Bush said a compassionate one. I try to see some good in most who choose public service as a profession, but the way it is now seems to entice the egotists into service more than anything else. We need to do whatever it takes to turn that around. When everyone in one party votes the same way 99% of the time and likewise for the opposing party then the public good goes out the window. The 24/7 news cycle doesn’t help matters as you say, especially since controversy sells soap so to speak.
I just don’t know how so many got into this hate mode but even more I don’t know how to shake them out of it… Something’s gotta happen…
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