Greene is no big conservative thinker, but this isn\u2019t just secessionist red meat for the next primary. What she proposes is entirely possible. It\u2019s bad, it\u2019s dangerous, and it needs to be stopped before it goes any further.<\/p>\n
Even bad ideas presented with bad intent deserve to be judged on what they actually propose and not what people assume they propose. Greene explicitly does not call for a second Civil War. Nor does she call for a breakup into two sovereign nations. Rather, she calls for an extreme version of federalism that would take the country back to the time when people said \u201cthe United States are\u2026\u201d rather than \u201cthe United States is\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, back to April 11, 1861<\/a>.<\/p>\n A second Civil War is virtually impossible. Or rather, if it started, it would end very, very quickly. Not the often heard cry of \u201cover by Christmas\u201d but \u201cover by Tuesday.\u201d The United States military would overwhelm any state militia (formal or informal) and it is under command of the President of the United States.<\/p>\n Secession is not possible legally and it went badly the one time it was tried illegally. A constitutional convention could, in theory, decide to dissolve the union. But the odds on that ever happening are astronomical, if only because it\u2019s entirely impractical. Look at the problems the U.K. is having getting out of the European Union, and it\u2019s an island nation with its own currency and military.<\/p>\n But Greene\u2019s vision of states\u2019 rights on steroids is entirely possible. We\u2019re already headed in that direction.<\/p>\n Greene talks about red states and blue states, and she makes the claim that red states should not have blue state values \u201cforced on them.\u201d There are two problems with that claim.<\/p>\n The first is that while the United States is becoming more and more polarized all the time, we are not divided by states. I live in Texas, among the reddest of states, one that hasn\u2019t elected a Democrat to a state-wide office in 27 years. But in the 2020 election, Joe Biden got 46% of the vote. Our electoral system is winner-take-all, legislative districts are highly gerrymandered (yes, Democrats gerrymander states they control \u2013 that doesn\u2019t make it right), and so Republicans control Texas.<\/p>\n We are divided into blue cities and red suburbs and rural areas. The structure of our national government (with the Senate and the Electoral College) gives greater weight to rural areas. If we were a true one-person-one-vote democracy (or republic) our government would be far more progressive than it is. Greene\u2019s plan would allow narrow majorities in places like Texas and Florida (where Trump won 51-48 in 2020) to ignore and oppress minorities with no checks and balances.<\/p>\n Dividing the country into red states and blue states is not the fair and equitable solution Greene pretends it is.<\/p>\n The second problem is the very idea that conservatives are having liberal values \u201cforced\u201d on them.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s reality: there\u2019s a culture war going on. They\u2019re losing. And so since they can\u2019t win on the merits of their arguments, they\u2019re trying to use the power of government to force their preferred cultural norms on everyone.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s fair to call this a \u201cculture war.\u201d It\u2019s simply cultural evolution, albeit at a speed some struggle to keep up with.<\/p>\n I get it \u2013 culture is deeply meaningful to people. It\u2019s part of their identity. Much of what passes for religion on the right is simply conservative culture wrapped up in cherry-picked scripture. So I understand that some people feel threatened when their cultural norms \u2013 that they\u2019ve been taught are superior to all other cultures all their lives \u2013 no longer hold a place of primacy.<\/p>\n The loss of superiority may very well feel like oppression. It isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n It\u2019s equality.<\/p>\n The first major step on the path to an 1861 United States came last year with the Dobbs<\/em> decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n Whatever the constitutional weaknesses of Roe v. Wade<\/em> (weaknesses that even Ruth Bader Ginsburg freely admitted), what it got right was that until the point of viability, abortion is not a federal issue or a state issue \u2013 it\u2019s an individual issue<\/a>. That\u2019s now gone, driven by the conservative legal ideologies of \u201coriginalism\u201d and \u201ctextualism\u201d \u2013 the idea that the Constitution means only what it meant at the time it was adopted. Under this line of thinking, the infamous Dred Scott<\/em> decision was rightly decided, because slavery was legal when the Constitution was ratified.<\/p>\n With Roe<\/em> gone, state legislatures are free to outlaw abortion as they like. Mind you, that\u2019s not the people of the states. When abortion rights are on a referendum they are affirmed every time, even in deep red states like Kansas and Kentucky. No, reproductive rights are subject to the whims of gerrymandered legislatures and their donors.<\/p>\n We now live in a nation divided into free states and unfree states. Those who are unwillingly pregnant (or who wanted to be pregnant but have horrible complications) can travel to free states for abortions, if they can afford it \u2013 and as long as freedom of movement isn\u2019t restricted\u2026 which some Republican legislators are already trying to do.<\/p>\n We are rapidly dividing into free states and unfree states when it comes to trans people. Free states protect trans people\u2019s right to live \u2013 unfree states are trying to legislate trans people out of existence.<\/p>\n Do you think Greene\u2019s culture warriors will stop there?<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s Respect For Marriage act requires states to recognize marriages legally performed in other states, but it does not prevent Texas or Utah or other red states from outlawing same sex marriages within their borders. And Congress has done nothing to codify Lawrence v. Texas<\/em> (protects same sex relations) and Griswold v. Connecticut<\/em> (protects the right to birth control) into federal law.<\/p>\n Greene complains about education (oh, the irony!) but public education is already largely controlled at the state and local level. She wants to force students to pray (presumable to her version of the Christian God) and to stand for the pledge of allegiance every day. Nothing says \u201cfreedom\u201d like forced conformity.<\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing to prevent state legislatures from passing such laws. And given the conservative takeover of the courts (because \u201cI just didn\u2019t like Hillary\u201d) many of them will be allowed to stand.<\/p>\n Some of her goals will be harder to implement. She wants to do away with environmental regulations, as though the winds stop at state borders and climate change respects political alignments. Changing that would require Congressional action that is unlikely to happen\u2026 at least as things stand now. If Ron DeSantis is elected President, who knows?<\/p>\n Her plans to disenfranchise new residents for five years seem unlikely to pass even in deep red legislatures, but Republicans are already doing everything they can to make it harder to vote \u2013 and Congress continues to do nothing about it.<\/p>\n Once they had no constraints in red states, does anybody really think Greene and her ilk would be content to stop there? How long did it take Republicans to go from insisting that abortion is a state issue to Mitch McConnell talking about a nationwide abortion ban? (answer: hours after the Dobbs<\/em> leak). The \u201cnational divorce\u201d isn\u2019t a live and let live plan. It\u2019s a strategy for implementing white Christian nationalism nationwide.<\/p>\n And on the other side, how long would it be before blue cities got fed up and started talking about a \u201cstate divorce\u201d from the suburbs and rural areas? If the country can be divided, so can the states. How long before red states started experiencing a \u201cbrain drain\u201d \u2013 and a capital drain? Lots of companies have moved to Texas for the low taxes \u2013 how long will they stay if educated people don\u2019t want to move here anymore?<\/p>\n More importantly, how long until April 11, 1861 turns into April 12?<\/p>\n The United States could not stand divided between free states and slave states. It can\u2019t stand divided between free states and unfree states either.<\/p>\n So, what do we do to prevent the kind of nightmare scenario Marjorie Taylor Greene wants?<\/p>\n To start with, vote! Vote every time in every election in every race. Especially vote in primaries. Encourage your Republican friends to vote too. If more responsible Republicans voted in primaries, we wouldn\u2019t have such bad candidates in the general election.<\/p>\n Hold your elected officials accountable \u2013 especially the ones you voted for.<\/p>\n Stop supporting Greene\u2019s idea! I\u2019m sick of good blue state liberals who scream \u201clet Texas secede!\u201d because they don\u2019t want to be associated with Ted Cruz and never consider what that would mean for women, Black people, LGBTQ people, immigrants, and anyone else who isn\u2019t a straight white Christian man.<\/p>\n Do not concede an inch. People are free to believe what they want, think what they want, and live how they want. The moment they start trying to force others to live according to their opinions, they\u2019ve crossed a line that cannot be ignored. And once you\u2019ve conceded that first inch, they\u2019ll come for the next one, and the next one, and the next one.<\/p>\n Do you really think they\u2019ll be satisfied with making drag shows 18+ and denying health care to trans kids? They won\u2019t be satisfied till every last bit of gender non-conformity is beaten back into the closet.<\/p>\n The bad news is that the system is rigged in their favor (i.e. \u2013 Senate, Electoral College, gerrymandering, Citizens United<\/em>) and they play the game with passion and determination. Brunch is canceled<\/a> for at least the next ten years.<\/p>\n The good news is that people like Greene are dying off faster than they\u2019re being replaced. Each generation is more tolerant and more accepting than the one that preceded it. Eventually they will lose and we will win.<\/p>\n We just have to keep them from causing any more damage than they already have.<\/p>\n![\"photo](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2023\/02\/Point-Park-02.22.20-10-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nOur real division is not by states<\/h2>\n
They\u2019re losing the culture war<\/h2>\n
![\"photo](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2023\/02\/08-05-Estes-Park-62-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA return to free states and unfree states<\/h2>\n
Nothing says \u201cfreedom\u201d like forced conformity<\/h2>\n
![\"photo](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2023\/02\/tree-line-01.14.23-01-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cA house divided against itself cannot stand\u201d<\/h2>\n
We have to want to win as much they do<\/h2>\n
![\"photo](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2023\/02\/Oak-Point-01.14.23-02-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n