So I'm looking at a color-coded map based on the way the states voted and was wondering.. Since the conservates and liberals can never agree on most thing, whats your opinion re these questions:

1. If given a choice, would you prefer the USA desolve the union, go our seperate ways and form 2 nations?

2. If the USA were to form two nations divided between and reds and blues, who would be better off in the long run?


PS
Thats Red (conservative) vs Blue (liberal) for you colorblind folks. In general most of the original colonies in the NorthEast plus Westcoast states being liberal vs Southern plus middle states being conservative.

__________________
.




"When I'm in command, every mission is a suicide mission!" -Capt. Zapp Branigan
The United Church of the Latter Day Tangential Tarts

They would both collapse on themselves. The reds would become a wealth-based oligarchy and the blues would become communist. Both would be destroyed.

I'd be in Amsterdam or Paris.

__________________
"Violence isn't always evil. What's evil is the infatuation with violence."
Jim Morrison

Ohmy.. that's a bit pessimistic. Communism and pure socialism has already proven to be impractical so I doubt the blues will go that route. As for the red masses, they will quickly tire of an oligarchy.. A small ruling class spouting moral values and religion will not feed the starving masses. Afterall, any nation is only a few missed meals from revolution.


I'm thinking the red states would become a theocratic monarchy similar to SaudiArabia with religious-police making sure the masses follow a strict christian moral code and with the Bush clan as the ruling family. JesusLand will have a relatively strong military and will eventually invade mexico in order to "save" their brown christian brothers.

As for the blue states, it would probably end up being a quasi-socialist society.. more like canada rather than sweden. But similar to sweden, HeathenLand will have a small hightech military for a strong defense but without any global influence.

__________________
.




"When I'm in command, every mission is a suicide mission!" -Capt. Zapp Branigan
The United Church of the Latter Day Tangential Tarts

Are we even discussing this? If you think that America will split up, you're wrong. It was attempted a long time ago, and it was devastating.

Like with race relations, we should try to be as color-blind as possible. We have to go from red and blue to red, white, and blue.

Bush got a mandate, although not the type of mandate Reagan got. Bush's mandate was to bring himself to the center and work for ALL Americans. There is a lot of healing necessary in this country and the ONLY way that will happen is if Bush can resist the impulse to Robertson-ize this country and to realize that if he should go that way, he will be doing more damage to this country than any President before him.

He has a great opportunity to change minds. No one who voted for Kerry expects him to do anything moderate in the next four years and he could leave a lot of egg on all of our faces if he actually acts like the "uniter" he promised to be in the first election. Time will tell.

__________________
"George W. Bush surrounds himself with smart people the way a hole surrounds itself with a donut." —Dennis Miller

We tried that, and thus was set the precedent of the United States invading, subjugating and oppressing sovereign nations...

I think both would be better off, if it's what the people wanted.

__________________
What have you done for your people today?

Exactly. He said in his speech something about reaching out to those who didn’t vote for him. I can’t remember the exact words. But basically, we’re waiting. While some are loudly proclaiming this a victory for the “conservative agenda” – that’s not going to unite people. If he wants to unite he needs to lay off that agenda and start leading with all of us in mind, not just half of us.

Or I’ll be joining other expats in Amsterdam.

__________________
“Been living here in galus for a life too long" - Matisyahu

you are dead wrong. Bush got a mandate to do what he has done for the last four years. He got the majority of the votes, and this is what those people want from him.

Let me ask you, if Kerry had won, would you think that he should cater to the Republicans? I highly doubt it.

In a country of almost 300 million people, Bush got about 4 or 5 million more votes than his opponent and if Ohio had gone to Kerry, he would have won. That is not a mandate. It might seem like one because people expected the popular vote to be closer, but I remember the Reagan mandate and this isn't even close.

No and I don't think Bush should cater to the democrats. Bush can either be a politician and pursue his far right wing, religious centered, agenda OR he can be a statesman and try to stay near the center and pull the country back together. The choice is his. I hope he makes his tax cuts permanent. I am glad that Kerry's terrible universal healthcare will never see the light of day. I want him to keep fighting the war against terror (although he needs to change the way he does a few things). And I am very interested in his ideas on privatization of Social Security (although I need more info on exactly what he plans on doing).

__________________
"George W. Bush surrounds himself with smart people the way a hole surrounds itself with a donut." —Dennis Miller

I hear ya. The original terms of membership in the Union called for respecting the individual rights of each State.. but the Federal Govt. keeps imposing it's rules across the board. The USA went from Democracy to Republic and now it's an Imperial power that imposes it's will on everyone.

So far it's only you and I that is considering the option (not the only option, but an option nonetheless) of breaking up a union that has been at conflict with each other since the War of Northern Aggression aka CivilWar. It's like watching a married couple that continualy fights and hurts each other, but refuses to get a divorce because they have gotten used to the constant abuse and pain.

__________________
.




"When I'm in command, every mission is a suicide mission!" -Capt. Zapp Branigan
The United Church of the Latter Day Tangential Tarts