Americans Want a National Divorce

According to a recent poll, over 60 percent of Americans want a national divorce.

This is significant. This is probably the largest percentage of Americans who are contemplating the value of union since 1860.

I know there are some righteous cause mythologists on this email list who will immediately cry, “TREASON”, but not so fast.

Many members of the founding generation openly discussed secession. Most did not think it was a good idea–the ratification of the Constitution took place because they feared the effects of disunion–but virtually no one thought it was illegal.

Unwise, but not illegal.

And certainly not treason.

Staunch New England Federalists maintained a secessionist stance until 1815, include “Mr. Union” Daniel Webster.

So did New England abolitionists well into the late antebellum period, which makes you wonder why they were such staunch Unionists during the War.

Perhaps they just hated Southerners enough to kill them. Terrorist John Brown certainly did. The War offered a license to kill.

Either way, their reversal on the issue is telling.

Southerners threatened secession several times leading up to the War and finally pulled it off in 1860-61.

Even Thad Stevens recognized this. He may not have agreed with de jure secession, but he certainly agreed it happened de facto.

The evidence is clear secession was never illegal, no matter what the modern righteous cause dopes suggest.

If it was, no one in the Founding generation would have advanced the idea–and as early as 1794.

Even Washington’s Farewell Address, so often cited as an argument for Union, is in reality a recognition of, and an argument against, secession.

He knew it could happen, legally.

How this would work in 2023 is a bigger mystery. We might have too many “secession is treason” idiots running around to have a serious conversation about the issue, or maybe that is just social media where righteous cause mythologists like to let their stupid show.

If 60 percent of Americans are ready for the conversation, these righteous cause fools aren’t winning.

The States, even if they are divided among red areas and blue areas, are still the best vehicle to pull it off. They are the building blocks of the Union and have all the power.

And by the States, I reference the people of the States, who through popular conventions can pull a State out of the Union. If they can accede to a document, they can certainly secede from it.

That is a reserved power.

We know that most of the American States would be economic powerhouses compared to many other countries around the globe.

I am not sure that all of the issues are going to be easy to solve, but at least we are having the conversation.

That is a start. This couldn’t have happened thirty years ago, and that is why so many of these lunatics on social media are frothing mad. They are losing, and they know it.

I discuss a “National Divorce” on Episode 800 of The Brion McClanahan Show.