go your own way

 

painting by Henri Matisse

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Opinion | America needs to break up its biggest states

NY Times, 7.7.2021

reader comment

John

Chicago

----------- I used to feel this way.  I used to agree with my grandfather who is fond of saying, "We should have let the South go when we had the chance."

However, I have instead come to the conclusion that there are many reasons why the union is worth preserving.  Not the least of these is the incorporation of--and inclusion of--former Confederate territories in the democratic process.

Do you have confidence that certain regions of the United States are intent on preserving their own democracy?

Do you think that these regions wouldn't regress to some version of a segregated caste system driven by religious fundamentalism and ideas of white supremacy?

All one has to do to begin understanding the danger is look at the recent assault on voting rights, particularly in southern states.

A closer look at the history of racism and intolerance in these regions should make you even more wary.

As my dad once told me - abolishing slavery was a moral imperative.  That is the most important reason why the union was - and still is - worth preserving.

Cutting loose states and regions who seek to govern their populations guided by ideas of bigotry, supremacy and fundamentalism would not only be a giant lurch backward, but it would also create more problems than it would solve.  

Democracy is worth preserving and it is worth fighting for.

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     It makes you think -- back in the day when Castro communists took over Cuba, America's government leaders thought, "OMG, now there's a communist dictatorship right in our back yard -- 485 miles from Florida!  It's so close!  Dangerous!"

If the United States split into two nations and one of them went full authoritarian, the dictatorship could be, instead of within 490 miles of us, right across the road.  Yikes -- be like living in France in 1939....

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