He goes on to posit that America’s own new tribalism is seen most distinctly in politics in which liberals hold sharply different views and values than conservatives. He asserts that, “Each is headed by rival warlords whose fighting has brought the national government in Washington to a standstill. Increasingly, the two tribes live separately in their own regions – blue or red state, coastal or mid-section, urban or rural – with state or local governments reflecting their contrasting values.”
He asks, “If Scotland can separate from England, will blue and red America eventually separate from each other?” My own answer is NO. What is YOUR answer?
I continue to believe born or naturalized Americans, people who have the rights and protections of the US Constitution - the finest such document anywhere in the world - would not support a breakaway. For one thing, they could not accept that, at the instant of a breakaway, ALL that is afforded them by the Constitution, all the inalienable rights, privileges and choices so eloquently stated in our Declaration of Independence, would no longer be there for them.
Our form of government is the very reason "tribalism" can exist in the first place. It is why we can have such divergent political opinion and religious belief. Indeed, such diversity and the longing for it were the basis for the original breakaway from England and other oppressive governments in the first place.
"Red" is already separate from "Blue," as, indeed, it was in Philadelphia in the beginning. But, we're all Americans. We would do well to remember that, and, to think about what it really means. I would also commend Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to those who would break away, recalling that it was prompted when, once before, Americans broke from one another.
