I have a new thought about the future division in the US.  My thoughts on this topic were crystalized with the report that the Colorado Secretary of State  (Jena Griswold) is forbidding her staff from traveling for job reasons to the state of Alabama because of the new abortion laws.

As a citizen of Texas, I have been told “reminded” many times that Texas was the only state that was its own nation at one point it its past… and that Texas is the only state that can legally secede from the Union.

I was even told this in school, but it just isn’t accurate.

Of course, the civil war made it pretty clear that there is no legal right for a state to secede; Texas is one of those states that seceded and was compelled back.

Some people have started asking what happens with the deep divide in the United States and how the division is being drawn very clearly along state lines.  The majority of states are clearly blue or red.

So, the major issues, immigration, abortion, gun ownership, marijuana legalization, religious liberties… chances are that you have strong opinions about these.  It seems that more and more often, the other side of the topics are just as passionately in opposition.  You think your views of morally obligatory; however, so do those on the other side of the topic.

How divided are we? We are so divided that the one thing we all agree on is stuff like this picture:

Everyone looked at this sand sculpture and thought “yeah, Lincoln would be horrified.”

BUT we EACH think that he would be horrified by the views and opinions of THE OTHER SIDE.  I know; I feel it too.

So, is there a civil war in our future?  Is secession in our future again?  We certainly seem as deeply and passionately divided now on these topics as we were about state’s rights and slavery last time.

So, what it coming?

I have a new thought. Not secession from other states…

But what about secession BY other states?

Exile.  Forced secession.

What happens if Colorado or California or New York – the governor, legislature – determines that their state will no longer recognize the right of Alabama to be a state.  They refuse to recognize education degrees from that state, licensures from that state, contracts, etc?  They stop accepting certain shipping from Alabama or sending stuff…

On both sides of this issue, there have been dramatic changes recently.

I am in over my head as to what all things could be restricted, and I am intrigued as to what others would have to add to that.

And I can easily imagine states creating a coalition to protest something like these “protection of unborn” laws.  I can imagine 17 state leaderships determining to refuse to interact with a state based on its abortion stance.

I think part of the reason that this is starting to make sense is the incredible similarity between this potential split over abortion and the previous split over slavery.

The arguments made (a woman’s right to her own body argument puts the fetus in the position of being property (“her own body”) of the woman in question.   This was the argument of the slave states – that people have a right to their own property.

Whether or not the child is a human being is very similar to the argument about the condition of slaves.  Recently, members of the pro-choice side of the conversation made it clear that unborn children should not be considered “human beings.”  For the purpose of counting, slaves were determined to be 3/5 of other humans.  In the Dred Scott case, slaves were clearly understood primarily as property and, at best, secondarily as humans.

The motivations are even similar (preference of the pursuit of happiness, financial equality, established law, the fact that the government is not to remove property without due process.)

Perhaps the South, in general, has taken a pro-life stance is because we have been on the wrong side of this human question before and have learned.

There is always little room for compromise when the debate being engaged in is considered moral versus legal (re-watch Cuomo in that segment from YouTube above).  The pro-life movement makes no bones about saying that this is a moral issue – the treatment of the life of a human being – and those are different kinds of arguments.

I intend to write more about this issue soon, but this week struck me as a new dynamic; suddenly I could see what may happen to our nation.

The exile of some states by others seems plausible.

Lord willing, that political and financial breach will be the extent of the division.

What do you think, is there another series of secession in our country’s future?

Other articles:

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/dred-scott-case

https://www.str.org/articles/are-blacks-human-beings#.XOFdUC-ZP6A

https://www.history.com/news/debunking-slavery-myths