Will the deepening divide in America between conservatives and liberals lead toward secession?
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh announced on his show that “there cannot be peaceful coexistence” between conservatives and liberals and red states are “trending toward secession.”
Limbaugh based much of what he was saying on the question: “What in the world do we have in common with the people who live in, say, New York?”
Recently, on my talk show, I have blamed the great political divide in America on the premise that too many people are defining themselves as “conservative” or “liberal” first and “American” second. This tendency to define oneself by party over country has been evolving for at least the last 10 years and it has ramped up significantly over the past 8 years.
To be clear, President Trump is not to blame for Americans honoring party identity over patriotism, but he has fed the divide with his own style of political rhetoric.
The idea that America is trending toward secession reflects the present mood in America. We can be proud of our political identity, but we should not cease to be Americans first. This country was built on political disagreement, but we have all witnessed what once were political differences become a modern-day version of the Mason-Dixon Line, which in pre-Civil War America was the dividing line between the free states of the North and the slave states of the South.
Today, verbal gestures of a new civil war brewing in America sadly represent the feelings of many Americans. On Monday, December 7 - Pearl Harbor Day, I talked about how Americans united after the Japanese attacked the United States and I expressed doubts that we would come together like that today.
There is no easy solution to break this trend, but every American should consider the premise upon which this nation was founded and accept the reality that political differences have always been an intrinsic part of this great country.
But will we - as individuals - ever be able to put being an American above being a member of a political tribe?
