Office Hours: A national divorce?

Friends,

Forgive me for quoting someone whose words and thoughts I usually find reprehensible but this time reflect the views of a growing portion of Americans — including many progressives.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted on Presidents’ Day that “We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states ….”

Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 @mtgreenee

We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government. Everyone I talk to says this. From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s traitorous America Last policies, we are… https://t.co/Azn8YF1UUy

Put aside for a moment who’s suggesting this and her typical nastiness about “woke” culture and Democrats. The fact is, majorities both in red states and in blue states do seem to want fundamentally different things, as I’ve argued on this page before.

A union of blue states could adopt universal health care, sweeping climate reform, expansive gun safety laws, and other progressive goals that now seem unattainable.

Meanwhile, the union of red states could abolish income taxes and ban whatever books they like, along with abortion, same-sex marriage, the teaching of Black history, drag shows, etc.

The Red States of America might quickly become a humanitarian and racist disaster, since many of these states already have the highest rates of poverty and murder as a result of conservative policies. But the Blue States of America would likely be welcoming to political asylum seekers.

So today’s Office Hours question: Is there any merit to the idea of amicable divorce? Can we continue to be productive as a unified nation, or are our differences becoming too irreconcilable? What do you think?

My two cents: As usual, your comments are thoughtful and spot on.

The basic problem with MTG's suggestion is that we fought a deadly Civil War specifically for the purpose of holding America together and granting all citizens the right of self-government via the Constitution.

Since then, "states rights" have been a rallying cry for those who, like MTG, don't want all Americans to have the full rights and protections accorded by the Constitution, and who don't believe in the equal protection of the laws.

To be sure, we exist in a federal system, in which the states play a large role — and there will be differences in state laws, reflecting differences in the wants and desires of voters in the various states.

But we continue to be one nation, under one national Constitution, with one Bill of Rights, and one national government. That is every American's right — and responsibility.