That esteemed conservative radio host and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Rush Limbaugh, suggested yesterday that the United States may be heading towards splitsville.
Speaking on his program, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Limbaugh claimed that “there cannot be a peaceful coexistence” between red and blue America, which he said had increasingly different values.
“It can’t go on this way,” said Limbaugh. “There cannot be a peaceful coexistence of two completely different theories of life, theories of government, theories of how we manage our affairs. We can’t be in this dire a conflict without something giving somewhere along the way.”
Is Rush onto something? Is he just being a clear-eyed realist?
Of course, the only other time in American history when states seceded from the union was in the days leading up to the Civil War. So, are we staring at a second, perhaps bloodless, breakup?
It does go without saying that sometimes, in any relationship, there are simply irreconcilable differences.
Interestingly enough, just one day before Limbaugh’s take on the dissolution of the American union, Texas Republican Rep., Kyle Biedermann, announced his intention to introduce the Texas Independence Referendum Act, which he said would allow Texans to vote for the state to “reassert its status as an independent nation.”
Also, in a tweet he later deleted, Georgia Republican lawmaker, Price Wallace, said last week, “We need to succeed from the union and form our own country,” misspelling “secede.”
There, no doubt, are many Americans on both sides of the red/blue divide who would be more than happy with a national separation, with “ good riddance” perhaps being the shared sentiment.
Of course this will never happen. After all, sanity among the red states is not completely lost.
As John Dean, former Nixon counsel, tweeted, “If the red states seceded, they would be a third world nation. It is the blue states that keep the red state’s financially afloat. Generally, blue states pay more taxes than they receive in federal benefits!”
Here’s something to ponder … if a national breakup were put to a vote right now, let’s say like Brexit, how confident are you the majority of voters would choose to remain the United States of America?
When I started reading about what Limbaugh said, I was really hoping to see a note in italics at the bottom of this article that included the word “satire.” But I didn’t.
We are living in strange times. As a resident of Texas, I remember a little over 10 years ago when then Texas Governor Rick Perry said that Texas had the legal right to secede from the union. Can a state do that?
According to findlaw.com, No. “What a state (or states) can do, however, is begin the process of seeking a *mutually agreed upon* parting of the ways, and that process clearly exists, set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 1868 ruling in *Texas v. White*. That ruling concluded that a state (or states) could secede by gaining approval of both houses of Congress and then obtaining ratification by three fourths of the nation’s legislatures. In other words, it’s a tough task.”
In other words, it ain’t gonna happen.
Strange times indeed!
That would be fine with me. The Eastern United States, The Western United States and the Bat Shit Crazy States. Trump can be president of the Bat Shit Crazy States until he dies. Try making money in hick country. Not sure they are joining his golf courses there, unless he reduces his initiation to One Million Pennies. HAHA
I’m with you!
As John pointed out, “sanity among the red states is not completely lost.” The last place in Texas I worked regularly before COVID-19 hit, neither the owner, manager, nor a single employee supported Donald Trump. So there!