By Stephen P. Pizzo,
Racontuer-at-Large
Those of us who paid attention in
school may remember Lincoln's warning that “a house divided cannot
stand.”
True then, but now? I'm beginning to
think not, not now, not today.
While a lot has also remained the same
since Lincoln's warning, today the consequences are even more
serious.
Many, maybe most, in the deep south
still chaff under the yoke of a Yankee-dominated central government
seated in Washington, DC. And now those Yankees have heaped one
final insult to their defeated secessional ambitions... exiling their
beloved Confederate battle flag.
Slavery is gone, but racial tensions
are as high as ever, not just in the deep south, but in every major
city in the Union.
Christianity, once the dominate faith
from coast to coast, north to south, is still strong, but rapidly
losing its grip on that dominance, and they don't like it.
Increasingly the term “persecution” laces their angst-filled
protests. And here too, those “liberal Yankees” have heaped one
final insult upon the faithful; letting men marry men, and women
marry other women.
Science has made enormous strides over
the past century and half, the fruits of such that make our lives
better fed, better housed, healthier, more productive and less
burdensome. Yet science has joined the “suspicious” central
government as a major source of angst and distrust among millions;
they suspect conspiracies are afoot, see scientists as concocters of
lies and disinformation and demonic attackers of religious scripture.
Even vaccines, which have saved countless billions of lives over the
decades, are now under suspicion among many.
Then there's the battles over our
shared physical environment. Even as it decays before our very eyes,
millions of otherwise sane American citizens deny it and, rather than
rising to the occasion, cling furiously to the very activities that
lay at the center of those declines.
Of course I could go on and on;
resistance to gun regulation, even as rivers of blood flow in our
streets, resistance to strong financial market regulations, even as
the bills from numerous previous financial meltdowns accrue interest
in our burgeoning national debt.
Yet there are major constituencies on
both sides of every single one of these issues. Both sides believe,
unshakably in most cases, that they are completely right and the
other side, the “Libs” or “Right Wingers,” are completely
wrong. And they're not about to change their minds, not about any of
it, not now, not ever.
And, since that's the case, both sides
will do whatever it takes to gum up the works so the other side
cannot prevail.
Which brings us back to Lincoln's
admonition, and an opportunity to evaluate it in terms of our own
times. He was of course right, though his goal was to preserve a
single union. But looking at that statement today leaves me to
wonder. Today the nation is still divided, but it's the House where
that division threatens most. Our House is, both figuratively and
literally, divided, as is the US Senate. And, at the bottom of it
all, the electorate. And it should now be becoming abundantly clear
that this House cannot stand. In fact, it is already not standing,
but failing, completely.
Which begs the question: If this house
cannot stand, due to the host of intractable disagreements on
policies, fiscal, social and military, might it not be wise to divide
this house, this time peacefully, thoughtfully, purposefully.
What would be the advantages to such a
separation? Without getting into the fine points of where the borders
would be drawn, let's just assume it's, once done, there would be a
Red State and Blue State assemblage. (Of course many voters would
find themselves on the wrong side of a border and will, over time,
either accept their minority voting status or move. Time will take
care of that.)
First, both new entities would finally
get federal governments that reflected their citizens world, social,
fiscal views. That would, in turn, create legislatures that could
function. Citizens would finally get to see their views translated
into policies they can see and feel.
Second – and I consider this the most
important – both liberals and conservatives would at last have an
opportunity to field test their most precious beliefs. Reds could
slash taxes on corporations, cut social programs to the bone, outlaw
abortions, ban same-sex marriages, repeal all affirmative action
laws, bar foreign immigrants, deport undocumented aliens in wholesale
lots. Blues could increase taxes on corporations and the rich, use
the extra tax revenues to boost their social safety nets, modernize
their infrastructure, and outlaw greenhouse gas producing fuels.
I think I know which side would shine
over the coming 50- to 100-years but, who knows. The issue is that
nothing...and I mean nothing, is going to get done under the
current state of dis-union. Conservatives and liberals are, quite
simply, “wired” differently. There is no chance of reconciliation
here. This marriage is over, all but for the divorce.
Since the end of the Civil War the
notion of breaking up the Union has been the ultimate sacrilege. But
now, today, look around. Think carefully. If we can no longer
function as a single family, why not mutually agreeable separation,
with visitation rights?
Why not allow both the Right and the
Left a chance to find out, once and for all, which has the best
workable solutions to our modern-day challenges? Surely neither has
all the answers. Each will have some successes and some failures.
Scientists would call this a “controlled experiment,” which is,
of course, the only kind of experiment that yield results which can
be trusted.
Or we can just keep doing what we've
been doing. Which means we will keep getting what we've got; a
central government that does not function, that cannot come to grips
with the serious, even life-on-earth threatening events, facing the
nation. A central government that fiddles while Rome burns.
