Opinion: A congresswoman calls for 'national divorce.' Can it work?
“We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican.
Her statement has been met with some praise, skepticism, criticism, and mockery. Sadly, it’s a fact that Democrats and Republicans are moving dangerously apart, and millions really can’t stand each other.
There’s no question that this would be the biggest thing to happen since the Civil War when separation — a divorce — was tried and failed with disaster for America.
But separation of seemingly incompatible parts of nations has happened many times throughout history.
More:Marjorie Taylor Greene wants a 'national divorce.' This liberal says: 'Let's do it!'
Anthropologists say that from the earliest human groups, communities that were in conflict split up or migrated to find common ground.
Empires and kingdoms fell apart. Sometimes it worked. Modern Europe is the result. So is Latin America. Come to think of it, the United States divorced from England.
But most states are not distinct by liberal or conservative, red or blue.
In fact, according to data from Pew Research, by party affiliation, her own state of Georgia is 41% Republican or leaning that way, 41% Democratic or leaning, and 18% in between.
Repeat this in many states and you suddenly realize that political “divorce” by state is literally impossible. Most states are purple!
Wyoming is the most Republican state, at 59%, but it's still 25% Democratic. So, it’s a little purple.
Many countries have tried the divorce route.
Separation is tricky and usually violent. For example, India underwent brutal partition in 1947 when it gained independence and was (divorced) into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. Sectarian violence, religious cleansing, class warfare led to as many as 2 million dead and millions of refugees. However, to this day tension between groups in India continues to be whipped up and massacres occur regularity.
In Nigeria, a separatist state, Biafra, was created in 1967. Two years later, 100,000 combatants had died and perhaps millions of civilians had perished from starvation; between 3 million and 5 million civilians in Biafra were displaced. All for nothing. The Nigerian regime reunified the country.
On the other hand, French Canadians pulled back from the abyss, remained in Canada, and still preserve their proud culture and values. They smoothed over their differences with English-speaking fellow Canadians and kept the country whole.
It seems like a better idea if, in the United States, we try to focus on the things which red, blue, and purple Americans agree. Otherwise, our adversaries will eat us for lunch.
Steffen W. Schmidt is Lucken Endowed Professor of Political Science at Iowa State University.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Opinion: Would a 'national divorce' actually work?
