American Secession

Americans have never been more divided, and we're ripe for a breakup. The bitterness, the gridlock, and the growing tolerance of violence invite us to think that we'd be happier were we two different countries. In all the ways that matter, save for the naked force of law, we are already two nations.

There's a second reason why secession beckons. We're over-big, one of the biggest countries in the world. Smaller countries are happier and less corrupt. They're less inclined to throw their weight around militarily, and they're freer. If there are advantages to bigness, the costs exceed the benefits. Bigness is badness.

Across the world, just about every country is staring down a secession movement. Many have already split apart. And are we to think that, almost alone in the world, we're immune from this? Or that the Civil War made secession impossible? If so, American Secession explodes those comforting beliefs and shows just how easy it would be for a state to exit the union if that's what its voters wanted.