Hard to imagine that someone who contributes less than zero to humanity has done something useful. But Marjorie Taylor Greene — enamored of the public attention that finally has come her way after nearly 50 years’ obscure existence in central Georgia — has done it. She has proposed to divorce red states from blue states.
As MTG herself knows after decades and three kids, marriage and its until-death-do-us-part commitment are not sacrosanct. Equally, nothing says that the union of the states must be perpetual. (Yes, Lincoln was wrong). Only the myth-manufacturing complex, the country’s leading industry, insists on it.
Unfortunately, as evidence of an ossified political system that rules a country split between conflicting values, public response has been reactionary. MTG has been called a “snowflake” because she expressed what both sides know: the marriage is over, but they’re afraid to change the distasteful-to-both-sides but oh so familiar status quo.
The knee-jerk reaction even from Republicans caused her to back-track, to say she wasn’t calling for secession. She also denied incitement to civil war. Instead, she said her aim was simply to reduce the size of the federal government and give more power to the states so that they could “be the identity they want to be”.
The immediate dismissal of her worthwhile idea and her subsequent weaseling are unfortunate. What better way to serve democracy than to let the public consider the merits of letting each side of an intractable divide govern itself in a way that comports with its values?
This assumes, of course, that some measure of social peace and chance at progress are laudable as a governing ethos, at least for one side. Republicans, perpetually claiming to suffer tyranny at the hands of Democrats, would at last have the chance to unleash a freedom among red states denied them by the malicious “Left”.
In turn, blue-state Democrats would be liberated from decades of financial tyranny that comes with the Republican con: getting Democrats to subsidize the red states while excoriating them for their anti-democratic, anti-American, and anti-Christian values. At some point, even the world’s greatest suckers have to face facts.
The near-even split in both houses of Congress makes it impossible for either side to implement its vision. What we get, instead, is constant brawling over things petty and grand. This is entertaining to many and profitable to a few, but the resulting public-policy paralysis harms many more. Ask SVB depositors and the residents of East Palestine.
Is sentiment enough to justify holding together the irreconcilable, people whose views on how society should govern itself and treat its people are in perpetual conflict? Change is hard, certainly. Generations of indoctrinated in “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” will have to cope with a reality. If MTG can do it, so can we.
Republicans and Democrats should think seriously about MTG’s proposal. On reflection, each side would recognize the obvious benefits. The GOP would no longer be chained to freedom-denying decency, while Democrats would have the chance to hold political power and achieve something useful. Thank you, MTG.
