The Ridiculous Fantasy of a National Divorce
Originally published 4 January, 2022.
Every now and then an absurd idea enters the discourse and picks up a sort of memetic traction in spite of itself. The latest such idea is that of a “national divorce” in which Blue America and Red America decide they’ve had enough of each other and call it quits.
The impetus for this proposal from conservatives and liberals alike is the recognition that division in our country has gone beyond disagreement and good-natured rivalry to outright hatred. Indeed, far from being united by crisis as we were at crucial points in the past, we are now at a point of schadenfreude—liberals reveling in suffering and disaster when it happens to conservatives, and vice versa....
The American population has always been divided. That is not a particularly new phenomenon, nor is it unique to America. But in the divisions of the past—even the bloody ones—we found a way to move forward together....
Liberalism is fundamentally an ideology of regime change. Those on the Left are never satisfied with dominating the areas they already have, in fact they grow quickly bored with governing them, as can be seen in cities like San Francisco and Seattle....
The solution is not some national divorce or civil war. The solution is for the Right to stop being rank amateurs when it comes to politics and governance. Purge the grifters and incompetents. Bring back the old sharks and have them train a new generation in the art of election warfare. And once in power, actually use that power to purge or destroy the institutions responsible for brainwashing so many of our countrymen....
Related
Our Turning Point: Either a Liberal or Progressive America
No, the Revolution Isn't Over, by N.S. Lyons, The Upheaval Substack, 14 February 2022.