When the Southern states tried to leave the Union, the ensuing war ended this ambition for the time, but it still simmers below the surface. We need to find a way to vent this pressure or it could blow up again.
For the purposes of this discussion, I will not refer to Republicans or red states but rather to Confederates and the CSA. The geographical correspondence between red and Confederate states is close enough, and the use of these terms merely acknowledges how these folks style themselves since they never accepted losing the Civil War in the first place. They deserve the honest labels to go along with their flag. Also, this nomenclature will allow for the fact that a small subset of congressmen registered Democratic are actually closet Confederates.
What I am proposing is to cut the Confederate states loose and let them form a new country with their own unique style of government, a theocratic plutocracy. If they don't wish to go, we should persuade them. We might be doing them a good turn since they are obviously miserable as citizens of the U.S. Despite winning recent elections, they are losing on most other fronts, and it must aggravate them. Their anti-gay and anti-science bubbles are collapsing, and critically, their voter base is slowly evaporating, so the future must look grim. Why not give them their own country to bang around in, to prosper or perish on their own merits. It seems that they would be much happier.
Although Libertarians and others promote "secession" from the U.S., this word implies a forced separation lacking agreement. We tried this before, and it led inevitably to the situation we now face. I am proposing something more benign -- partition, a solution potentially agreeable to both sides. We see this process in play when a business shuts down and the owners divide up the assets, going their separate ways. Should we consider this route?
There is a historic precedent for this process on the national level: Czechoslovakia. Once a unified nation of Czechs and Slovacs, now they are two separate countries. These two groups, once politically united, were nontheless divided by culture and language, and their separation seemed to relieve a lot of ancient tensions. The former Yugoslavia will serve as an additional example, likewise India/Pakistan and Pakistan/Bangla Desh. In each case the partition allowed the diminution of longstanding anger and resentment. We should be so lucky.
There would be advantages and disadvantages to such a change. On the downside:
1) A USA of about 35 states and 220 million population would not be quite the player on the world scene. Our money would probably lose its exalted position as the international medium of exchange. We would not be able to push our weight around militarily quite as freely, less gravitas. In the end we might be better off.
2) We would wind up with one more nation hostile to us, but they are already. Big deal.
3) It would make it seem that we fought the Civil War for nothing, but there actually is no real comparison between then and now except for the areas involved. That war, supposedly over slavery, was in fact a conflict between two different sources of wealth, industrial and agricultural. Despite the conventional wisdom, slavery was only a small part of it, or Lincoln would not have waited four years until 1864 to produce the emancipation proclamation, a document which carefully did not free any slaves in Northern states. In face, battles over tariff legislation during the years leading up to the war explain much better the strain which led to the attempt at a breakup.
However, the current conflict is more over the role of the Federal government. These days, Confederates are more interested in forcing their own narrow religious views on everyone else, eliminating the tax burden on the already wealthy, and obliterating all social programs. Their concept is that government exists to serve only the few and that the many can tag along if they are able. At this point, they seem to think that the only path to this divine state is to take over the U.S. government and subvert it. I think they should be presented with another way -- their own Confederate States of America. The advantages:
1) We wouldn't have to support them any longer. It is well known that most Confederate states get more from the Federal government than they pay in taxes while the rest of us pay more to get less. This would end, and they would have to make up the deficiency or do without.
2) There won't be quite so big mess in Congress with the Confederates gone. Just think about it; we would have a chance for rational discussion and actual votes!
3) With normal migration between both countries, a few of the wealthy stuck in Northern states could move to the CSA, and working folks tired of being wage slaves could relocate to the USA and revitalize our middle class. We would get the best of this exchange.
4) With independence, the Confederates would have to put up or shut up. Their ideas about the church/state, wealth concentration, and voter suppression would have a suitable test bed to be verified or refuted. As it is now, forcing them to stay in the Union only keeps them from implementing their fantasies and puting them to the test. Think of it -- the "Kansas experiment" writ large and up for international review.
In truth, I do expect some pointed reactions to this proposal, but what are the alternatives? It is unrealistic to pretend that there is no problem here and continue looking the other way. I see three posibilities:
1) The Confederates take over the Federal government and impose their world view on us all. Since they only have the support of about one third of the country, this could result in a rebellion and a bunch of right-wing politicians running for cover. Or. . .
2) The status quo is maintained; the Confederates get squashed again; the Union is preserved, and the same resentment and anger persist for another few centuries with no resolution. Or. . .
3) We sit down and discuss an equable divorce like reasonable people.
As an afterthought, do I personally think that any of this could come to pass? No, I don't. The Confederates will never have the guts to try to make it on their own, despite how they complain about being stuck here with the rest of us. But I would love to be proven wrong on this.