as an observer rather than a participant in us democracy, i'd want to live in a way that reflected a culture of which i felt a part.
not sure how you make new england or california coherent with texas and the south. folks want to live in different ways, but are forced by history and a rude document to inhabit the same sphere of health, law and economics.
the gap just keeps growing wider. which makes the strain on so-called indivisibility all the greater.
and we all know what natural divisions end up causing when fault lines are ignored. the anger can tear a nation apart violently, where a more flexible model might avoid the bloodshed.
one can pledge allegiance all one wants, but cultures still diverge. adherence to a doctrine of indivisibility, even one that somehow god got involved with, can cause harm if it ignores reality. coherence should be something a nation desires rather than indivisibility being anathema. if an accommodation isn't voluntary, it becomes toxic. i think lincoln was wrong about this.
i am not sure the whole is less dangerous than the parts. but it is an interesting thought. would an independent south nuke the arabs to crystallise the end of times? lordie, lordie.
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