If Lincoln Let the South Secede
A movie that I'd like to see but for some reason hasn't been created yet, is what America would look like if the South seceded. I'm talking about back when Abraham Lincoln fought to keep the union together. When we look at our nation's politics today in 2020, with an awful president running the country in the wrong direction, a poor national response to the COVID crisis, and racial tensions rising with little improvements to our institutions and policies in the preceding years, one begins to ask himself whether we would be a better country without the South.
When looking at the parts of our country that we think are backwards, old-fashioned, racist, and ignorant, most of them are located in the south. When we look at which states are performing the poorest in all measures, we look at the south. When we look where racism is highest, we look at the south. When we wish to find states that have poor records of environmental respect and poor records on gun control, we look at the south. The south is the least healthy, the least educated, the least productive, and the least well respected part of our country. I genuinely feel that our country would be better off if we didn't have the states of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee. and West Virginia. Now, I hope that these areas still exist, and that another country contains them and has all the good stuff that they have now, such as New Orleans jazz, country music etc., but I don't think that America would be a better country with them in it.
When you look at the blue versus red state dichotomy in this country, it would largely be a non-issue if we didn’t have the south. True there are some red states in the west including Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, etc but by and large the north and the areas along the coast, especially in the West, are all blue. So when we look at what makes our country great, it is states like California, New York, and Massachusetts with regards to research, innovation, the arts, and progressive thinking. These great states are on the coast, and they're not in the south. When we look at where the best colleges in the country are located, again we see that they're not in the south. When we wonder why we can't treat people better and have more progressive policies, tax policies, and laws in our country, it's generally because the South stymies our development and evolution. The South is holding us back. It’s holding us back in history that was dishonorable and disrespectful. The south is holding us back in the times of slavery and racial oppression. The south is not helping us move forward into a new tomorrow where people are treated with respect, love, dignity, and where we define our greatness as a country by the individuals that are the least fortunate and least privileged.
I truly don't understand why Abraham Lincoln wanted to keep the South as part of the union, other than the fact that it might weaken us from a military standpoint versus foreign invaders, because then we wouldn't have such a strong coastal defense along our southern border. I think that the time is never lost for us to reconsider secession. Maybe not even secession, but rather amputation. I don't think that the South wants the north to secede from the union because they need all the economic prosperity, the intellectual creativity, and the entrepreneurial ingenuity that the North and the coastal States bring to it. Without the North, the South would be economically poor, and wouldn't be able to rely on federal money to keep it afloat. The South wants to be part of the union, because if it isn't part of the union, it's going to fall apart.
But why does the union want to keep the South? What aspects of the South are appealing to the rest of our country? Yes, perhaps wealthy Northeasterners want to retire in a warm area, so having it part of our country makes it easier to do so, but we can still form a coalition that doesn't require the South bringing us down. People in Italy can travel to France as part of the European Union without letting French voters decide the president of Italy. We have allowed the South to screw up the politics of our country for far too long. It is time that we amputate the South from the Union and form a larger Union with Canada and Mexico. It is time that we form a North American Union to compete on a global scale, but one in which America, without the South, and without Canada and Mexico, can elect their own government. Our country is too good to be ruined by the South. And yet, President Trump is proof that the self is destroying our country and our democracy. We are officially a laughing stock to the world, and we have been thoroughly ineffective in our responses to the global pandemic. I am tired of making excuses for the South. I am tired of giving the South money. I am tired of the south bringing down our economy and health. The south is a blight on our country and needs to be removed like a cancer from a healthy patient. Sometimes the best way to grow is to get rid of those things that are holding you back, and in our case of the United States of America I believe it is time to divide our states and become a more coherent and cohesive country, ironic as that sounds.
I would love for an historian to write the book of what America would look like if the South seceded because I would love to read how the union would absolutely crush it, and that the south would fall into ruin.
