If you peruse Real Clear Politics daily, you will find at least one or two interesting articles. I saw one on the new secession and clicked. I didn’t like what I read at all. Reading it reminds me of the framing people take when they see an issue, identify a problem, but miss on their analysis badly on how to solve it.
A lot of the divide in America is over identifying those problems, and how to solve them.
Here are the five most alarming trends that this author sees as “secession”
1. The number of Americans leaving the country to live elsewhere has more than doubled over the past few decades, from four million in 1999 to nine million in 2023.
2. Millions of American families have abandoned the public schools in recent decades, owing to a perceived decline in standards or the politicization of the school curricula.
3. Americans are abandoning the workforce in unprecedented numbers.
4. Gun ownership has surged over the past few years
5. The most alarming trend: Young Americans are no longer volunteering to serve in the military to the extent they did just a few years ago.
Wow, knock me over with a feather. If that’s a sign of secession, we have no problems since all of the author's points are easily solvable.
Point three might be that it’s just the baby boomer generation retiring but it also could be related to the government paying people not to work. Our social safety net is far too deep and rigid. It’s getting thicker with proposals like reparations.
No, the real secession is when states or cities don’t enforce known law. A great example of this is “sanctuary city”. It flouts immigration law. The Department of Immigration needs state cooperation to really do its job and during the Trump administration, blue states didn’t cooperate.
At some point, people won’t send tax dollars to the US. That’s when we will see the real secession. I think my friend Craig wrote about the divide in America eloquently here. His blog post is worth a read and a think.
There are indeed bad laws. There are indeed economic incentives for government agencies and elected officials to codify laws and regulations that aren’t good for citizens. Those economic incentives are not monetary as economist Gary Becker clearly pointed out as far back as 1962 when he began applying the laws of economics to human behavior.
Replace the word currency or money with the word “power” and see if you begin to understand how governments try and increase their power.
Craig is a student of the Civil War. It’s a passion of his. The way this new divide among Americans is playing out reminds me a little of the way it played out in 1850 leading to 1860.
From my point of view, the progressives want to upend the original Constitution and the values enshrined in it by any means necessary. They seek government control over all enterprise and thought. No one can solve problems on their own so we turn to the government and we have to spend more to solve them. If a billion doesn’t work, we need a trillion. We have reached an Orwellian state in many parts of America and for sure with public discourse. You can now be punished for thinking the wrong things in Michigan and California. That’s Stalin on Steriods and it’s come to your shore.
The five points the author makes in his article are just symptoms. The cure is different and a lot harder.
Articles on opinion pages always point out problems. Opinion writers are good muckrakers. Raking muck is easy but deciding what to do with muck is harder.
What’s the cure from my point of view?
Go back to the principles outlined in the Constitution and Declaration. Not the ones that are stressed all the time, “government by the people of the people”. These people want to vote for socialism. More like, “protect people from government”.
An example, American education would be better off without a Department of Education. The DoE is just a money aggregator that distributes money based on its political whims. It’s not improving education in America and depending on how you look at the statistics, education in America is poorer since the founding of the DoE in the 1970s.
Social programs that were started and sold in the 1930s as an antidote to the Depression have ballooned. They are albatrosses on the backs of citizens who actually produce. They need to be ended in a lot of cases, or reimagined.
When you offer up an idea to reimagine those programs, you are summarily shut down by the big government Puritans. Big Tech coalesces and eliminates the ability for you to even get your opinion out. All of a sudden you are a radical qAnon member fascist.
For historian Michael Bechsloss's edification, when you point out fascism there are three fingers pointing back at you. Hat tip to G. Gordon Teichman for those who were fortunate enough to have his class in 7th grade. Ironically, it is the progressives who are fascists and actively promote and practice fascism. A great example is the way Big Tech and government agencies worked together over the past few years.
I don’t know how this ends. But, my guess is if there is a Republican elected president, there will be rioting in the streets. Classic fascist response.
From my perspective, 2, possibly 3, 4, and 5 are all healthy signs. Americans with good sense and faith in our bedrock principles and institutions (as designed, not as currently being distorted) are actively finding alternatives - independent work beats any organization big enough to have HR, and I'm not sure that's really captured in employment statistics - earlier retirement of boomers & medical professionals was in the news throughout the lockdown mania, too. I'm not sure how relevant it is to compare out-migration rates between 1999 and 2023, or if these years are in line with trends or opportunistically-selected outliers. (Surely we do not have 2023 data in fact, since it's only July.)
The others strike me as extremely realistic and intelligent responses, finding better ways to live in light of everything we have been and are still learning about exactly how out-of-control so many entrenched powers-that-be are, in near-complete disconnection from Constitutional and rational objectives and scope.
Regarding #5: Over the course of US history, Southerners and rural people have always been over-represented in military service. I cannot think of a more effective strategy to stall then reverse that flow than the last 10-15-30 years of philosophical rot in the leaders and leadership incentives, aligned in lockstep to themes antithetical to Southern culture, values, masculinity, and selflessness. (Recommend CDR Salamander on diversity-driven rot in what used to be a merit-based military - https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/)
Great piece Mr Carter. The Dems-Radical Left have been following the Cloward-Piven strategy for over 40 years. Soros and his like minded "elites" continue aiding in the destruction of the greatest country on earth! They're sadly right on schedule. All for the will to power. We need to wake up to what is right in front of our eyes if we're going to remain free!