tue 06 nov 2012 16:07:04 — witte de withstraat
remarks on secession
today being election day in the US, i took occasion to write on fb my feelings about dividing that nation into two parts.
••
i'm not sure if this is the right time to say this, but ... here goes.
to be honest, i think instead of americans choosing one president tomorrow, they should choose two. and voluntarily divide the nation into two countries. otherwise, you'll have the same situation you've had for years, with half the people feeling miserable about what happened and who they're living under. just split up into two nations. and try to maintain friendly foreign relations with each other.
if you *do* end up in a civl war, please try to make it a nonviolent one. the kind where you just withhold your cooperation with evil, and commit no evil yourself. very successful wars of resistance can be fought without hurting anyone, just by withholding your cooperation with evil.
the only hard part is not being afraid.
[then]
in my opinion any US secession treaty should include some provision for:
• mutual non-aggression
• free migration across borders, so that nobody gets trapped 'behind the iron curtain'
• a commitment to economic / trade cooperation.
some people *want* to live under a racist, misogynistic theocracy, where science and rationalism are seen as enemies of order. others would not want to live there. if the numbers were lopsided, then the disgruntled could be expected to love it or leave it. but forcing 50 percent of a population to live under a regime that is anathema to them, is neither humane, nor a recipe for long term stability.