The Divided States of America

I’ve been theorizing for a while now that the United States of America is never going to be united again. Or at least any time soon. I feel that a name change and some logistics may be in order soon. The Divided States of America seems more accurate and realistic here in 2022.

It’s sad to think of your country as being broken beyond repair. The anger and denial stages of realizing what the US of A has become surely aren’t helping to heal the issues we hear about and deal with daily. Perhaps it’s time we move on to the “acceptance” stage and realize that we’ll never likely be the “United” States of America ever again.

Honestly though, when was the last time we were that united? I guess perhaps during World War 2? With the threat of Nazi Germany and Japan looking to destroy our country after Pearl Harbor, we banded together as a nation and kicked some ass. It’s tragic that for us to be united and kind toward one another, we have to be at war and have a common enemy of some other nation.

Perhaps we are too different politically and religiously to truly get along. It seems that those two differences between people lead to the most heated, angry, and often violent interactions among US citizens. We’ve never learned to collectively be ok with allowing people with differences to exist peacefully.

Instead of wanting to learn about someone else’s political views, religion, or way of life, many Americans instantly shun or avoid such people. I have never been able to figure out what so many ignorant people are afraid of. Are they so insecure in their own beliefs and politics and religion that they’re afraid to learn another’s point of view? I don’t get it.

I’ve always enjoyed learning. Even before I started 1st grade (I skipped kindergarten, as I was advanced in reading, thanks Mom!) I learned easily and enjoyed doing so. I started to read at age 3. Before I entered public school, I was already reading books and doing simple math. It was fun to learn, know more, and achieve. I couldn’t imagine it any other way.

It baffles me to see people who refuse to learn. They’ve been taught one way of thinking, generally by their immediate family during their growing up years, and often have stubborn, unyielding views reinforced by their church if they’re religious.

These views they hold often are ignorant, racist, and bigoted. Depending on what their parents, church, and community have taught them in their formative years, it can prove to be difficult for these people to think outside of the box. Their own limited life experiences and messages that have been constantly drilled into their heads can make them certain that their line of thinking is the only right one.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. While it is important to have your own views and opinions, it can be difficult to learn mutual respect and acceptance when you are so set in your ways. I started out being quite judgmental and not always a nice person to people who differed from me when I was a child, teenager, and young adult.

It wasn’t easy to overcome such an upbringing. My father was a pastor and in his own ways, somewhat racist and bigoted. He was nice to everyone face to face. He had a good personality and a lot of charisma, people liked him.

However, I can remember racist jokes and bigoted views being said about marginalized groups of people and the LGBTQ community by him in private. It makes me sick that these were things we observed and were taught while being raised in a religious setting. It was so hypocritical and I realized this at some point. It started to bother me.

It was only after meeting my first serious girlfriend who became my first wife that I realized how wrong and hurtful it was to be so judgmental. Telling off-color jokes even in private was not an acceptable thing in any regard. As I grew, educated myself in college, and my brain fully formed in my mid-20s, I realized just how far I had come in being a far better human being.

It’s a challenge that I still work on daily. As much as I consider myself a friend to all good people, I realize that there is still work to be done. I am not kind to certain types of people still, at this stage of my life. I realize that I justify this by telling myself that it’s the ignorant, racist, bigoted, sexist, homophobic people in our country that don’t deserve kindness or respect because of their shitty beliefs.

Yet, this still feels wrong. I realize that I should pity these types of people. I should want to help them grow and teach them the lessons I learned in college and from my ex-wife. I need to be a better example of what a good human and American citizen should be. I need to love my neighbor, even if he or she loves Donald Trump and Fox News.

But it’s difficult. Again, we live in a country that I feel would be more accurately named The Divided States of America. If we could somehow divide the land in our country into two countries, and those with strong beliefs about their politics and religions moved to each of their respective sides, we’d all be better off.

Of course, this likely will never happen. I imagine we’d have to engage in a full-on Civil War II for there to be any kind of serious discussion about secession. Millions of people would have to die in order for the powers that be to decide that enough is enough and try to come up with a plan to split the United States into two separate nations.

I’d hate to see it happen. It would kill me to see men, women, and children dying in a war over politics and religion. It would be so much simpler to just get along, accept each others’ differences, and maybe learn something from a friend or neighbor who has very differing beliefs. Beats the shit out of genocide, right?

If that proved to be impossible, and Civil War Redux DID happen, how would the secession even play out? Would we draw the dividing line as North versus South? Or East versus West. There would be issues no matter what.

North/South would obviously divide the more liberal Northern areas from the Southern areas like Texas, the Deep South, and Florida. However, people from Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and I’m certain other eastern states would feel that they’re in the wrong states.

This would likely happen as well if we drew the line between East versus West. Both coasts would want to be on the liberal side, other than places like Florida, the Carolinas, Virginia, etc. You wouldn’t be able to make everyone happy in this regard.

Plus there are the real estate values to consider. The most expensive areas would be the coastal parts of California up to Seattle, as well as the densely populated areas of the Northeastern US as well as parts of Florida. How would one go about dividing the areas into two equitable nations?

It would also be impossible to get some folks to leave the areas they’ve grown up in and lived in their entire lives. Even if we instituted some sort of housing exchange so you were able to relocate to an area that better fit your political and religious views, you know damn well that not everyone would participate in this.

Ultimately, splitting the United States of America into two and rebranding it as The Divided States Of America will likely never come to be. Perhaps we should all work on ourselves, at a personal level. Be kind. Be educated. Be Accepting. Mind our own business and allow others to live. Turn off the Fox News and CNN. Quit electing shitty leaders who have no business holding office.

Then and only then will we be able to see each other as countrymen and women again. It may be possible for people to want to be kinder and more accepting if they educate themselves, find better-paying jobs and careers, and can more easily afford to buy a home. It’s helpful to most people’s mental state to have a safe place to exist.

Until we band together and find common ground, the government will always hold more power and will be better able to control the masses. United we stand, divided we fall. Let’s show the government that THEY work for US. The only way to have power to the people is by having the people unite to be powerful.