Stumbling Toward National Divorce

America appears to be stumbling toward national divorce.

The classic signs are present. There are arguments, expressions of contempt, stored resentments, and breaches of trust. The left is having an affair by cheating with the Chinese.

Verbal abuse has escalated to violence, with street commies burning down businesses of Trump supporters. There are threats of worse to come.

Peaceful splits are possible. Hungary and Austria separated in 1867 through the Ausgleich agreement. Norway and Sweden peaceably split in 1905 over irreconcilable foreign policy differences. The British government recognized the results of Jamaica’s 1961 vote for independence, and Trinidad’s request for independence a year later.

A peaceful resolution can happen rapidly. The breakup of Singapore and Malaysia, prompted by racial tensions, took four days. After a day or two of negotiations, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and his Malaysian counterpart signed a separation agreement on August 7, 1965. Parliament approved it on August 9.

Negotiated divorces require trust and mutual respect. They are done carefully, with an eye to international recognition of both nations. Afterward one nation nay veer in a more conservative direction, as Hungary did after its split, but governing institutions tend to remain stable. The typical result is a resurgence of nationalism and, after the paperwork is complete, zero desire to reunite.

The short-lived case of Texas v. Pennsylvania suggests the geography of a peaceful split. Afterward the People’s Republic could ban suburbs and firearms. Once the police are abolished, Antifa’s thuggish goon squads would get the job. Insufficient enthusiasm for the revolution would be illegal on grounds of reinforcing racial, economic and environmental injustice.

CNN and MSNBC anchors could extirpate their white privilege through forcible reeducation sessions conducted by suitably diverse inner-city gangs. After a few days of personal reparations, they’d beg to emigrate to America and work for OANN. Oceanfront estates in Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and Sausalito would be recompense for supporting a colonialist sexist heteronormative cispositive patriarchy. Their evicted owners could realize post-plutocratic redemption through hard labor on the solar plantations.

Peaceful national divorces are rare. The crucial requirement is that both sides need to agree, which does not seem likely here.

The left’s descent into 500-gendered madness does not make for neighborly coexistence. It is bonkers to demand that all children receive puberty blockers, but “trans” activists are doing just that. It is evil to support post-birth abortion, but the left applauds it. As Archbishop Viganò warns us: “This historical moment sees the forces of Evil aligned in a battle without quarter against the forces of Good.” Of course only conspiracy theorists would suggest that our media elites are openly Satanic.

The last thing mobs of blue-haired, gender-confused, window-smashing commies and their political enablers want is a prosperous United States from Idaho to Florida. They know deplorables belong in camps, not free to walk outside maskless or go to church on Sunday. Prius battalions of diversity consultants would stage cross-border raids to torch F-150s and kidnap schoolchildren. Youngsters must be prevented from learning about the accomplishments of men like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

From a military perspective, the U.S. could not tolerate a China-allied People’s Republic next door. Our homegrown commies may be better at fighting microaggressions than light infantry, but the People’s Liberation Army is ruthless and serious. Having the weirdo prime minister of Canada invite PLA troops to train in Ontario is bad enough.

There is an alternative. An October column here endorsed co-existence through radical federalism: “Longer term re-stabilization could devolve power from Washington, D.C. to state governments. California could ban pickups and mandate abortions, while Texas could do the opposite. Nobody would love it, but the republic would survive.”

An American Mind article from November 30 proposes radical federalism through a constitutional convention. The result would be one currency, one army, mostly separate, somewhat united. Most federal functions would vanish, with state courts becoming “the final word on the right to bear arms, free speech and abortion.” That avoids the difficulty of the U.S. Fourth Fleet in Florida operating a few miles from Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in hostile territory previously known as Georgia.

Sadly, no evidence suggests that the left will compromise. It is emboldened. Our self-appointed rulers are calling President Trump and his supporters “maggots” who “must be prosecuted and convicted and removed from our society.” Democrat operatives are talking up “guillotines.” Instead of lowering tensions this week, Joe Biden’s senior aides are cursing opponents. Plus federalism is racist.

Even under such a plan, the Defense Department, the State Department, intelligence agencies, federal law enforcement, and the Federal Reserve will continue. Those account for millions of jobs and nearly a quarter of today’s federal budget. The deep state creatures denning in these agencies will not agree to reductions in their authority any more than a colony of paper wasps will agree to the destruction of its nest.

A second American Mind article was published this week as a rebuttal to the first. The left will not tolerate co-existence, wrote Edward Erler, an emeritus professor of political science. “Like all domineering partners who abuse their consorts, they want to rule.”

The alternatives are less pleasant. Normal Americans are concluding that political and legal processes are broken. Mark Levin says we have witnessed “the complete collapse of the judiciary.” Maria Bartiromo’s report this week suggesting that President Trump did, in fact, win the election will reinforce suspicions that the fix is in.

Michael Anton, a former National Security Council staffer now at Hillsdale College, says that the tentacles of the deep state extend throughout Washington. There’s no longer a way to hold our ruling class accountable for corruption, Anton said in an interview this week. “Our system doesn’t work like that anymore. It isn’t fair. It isn’t honest. It’s corrupt. It exists to do one thing. To cover up for the ruling class. And protect the ruling class. And secondarily to punish dissent and to punish its perceived enemies… The system protects itself.”

This echoes Sen. Chuck Schumer’s acknowledgement of the swamp creatures' vindictiveness. It tells us that the system is beyond reform. No wonder we’re seeing essays like Time to Heel–or Fight. Or Max Velocity’s The End of the Republic: “We will not submit, we will not give in.” And Matt Bracken this week: “We’re not going to just roll over when our freedom is stolen.”

We may be approaching our own version of Northern Ireland’s Troubles. The odds increase as Americans become convinced the election was stolen and democracy has failed. Not only is it a legitimacy crisis, but it may be a terminal one.

War correspondent Michael Yon is, as always, worth reading and, if you have a few dollars to spare, worth supporting:

I cannot convey more urgently that we are steaming into profound Civil War… I still do not know if we will steam into profound civil war. But, as a directionally accurate statement: All indicators point to war. We have a fully formed series of “Cat 5 Hurricanes in the Atlantic.” That much is clear. Conditions are set for war.

A final straw can be triggering event(s), general economic collapse, tax and other rebellion, and just a general feeling by enough people that various State and the Federal Government are illegitimate.

This is where the analogy of a divorce fails. A divorce allows two people to walk away from each other with the aftermath handled by a disinterested observer. Here it would be less like a divorce and more like a purge.

If that final straw occurs, what happens next is difficult to predict. It would be heartrending. May God have mercy on us all.