His View: Without shared values in the nation, the states need to rise up

The University of Virginia’s Center for Politics recently conducted a poll to explore the differences between 2020 Trump voters and Biden voters. Director Larry J. Sabato said “the divide between Trump and Biden voters is deep, wide, and dangerous. The scope is unprecedented, and it will not be easily fixed.”

Majorities of both Biden and Trump voters express some form of distrust for voters, elected officials and media sources they associate with the other side. A strong majority of Trump voters see no real difference between Democrats and socialists, and a majority of Biden voters say there is no real difference between Republicans and fascists.

Significant numbers of both Trump and Biden voters show a willingness to violate democratic tendencies and norms if needed to serve their priorities. Roughly two in 10 Trump and Biden voters strongly agree it would be better if a “president could take needed actions without being constrained by Congress or courts.”

Most interesting is that 41 percent of Biden voters and 52 percent of Trump voters say that it’s time to split the country, favoring blue/red states seceding from the union.

We already see a micro-secession taking place. According to the 2020 census, many are fleeing California, Oregon and Washington for red states like Utah, Idaho, Texas, North Dakota and Florida. Big companies (Tesla, Toyota, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, Charles Schwab, etc.) also are seceding from blue states and moving to red states.

A country must have some kind of uniting factor for a people to be a people. Other countries are united by ancestry, religion, language, race, etc. However, the United States was originally united on basic, shared, Judeo-Christian values.

What basic values do blue and red staters share? We cannot even agree on whether only women can have babies. Whether defunding the police hurts those who need them most. Whether children should be taught pornography in school. Whether stealing under $1,000 from a store is OK. Whether children should be sexualized in school and can pick their own gender. Whether, when boys put on skirts, they can go into the girl’s locker room. Whether elementary school kids should be given puberty blockers. Whether Antifa and BLM violence is acceptable for the greater good. Whether capitalism promotes wealth and socialism promotes poverty. Whether murdering babies up until the time the umbilical cord is cut is fine. Whether it is the parents’ or the state’s responsibility to educate kids. Whether people should be judged by the color of their skin or the content of their character. Whether people who disagree should be deplatformed and canceled.

Since we don’t have shared values anymore, a united country doesn’t even exist anymore. We can go in two directions: first, suffer complete federal oppression where we swing from ever increasing democrat tyranny to republican tyranny. This will ultimately lead to more violence and secession.

Second, the states can actively resist the unconstitutional mandates of the federal government. That would require the states to demand federalism and to act on the 10th Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Then citizens can move to a state that supports their shared values. Do you reject Texas’ anti-abortion law? Do you reject Washington’s vaccine mandate? Do you reject California’s taxes and regulations? Then move to a state that shares your values.

Unless the federal government is reduced in scope and size, it will become a tool to pit red states against blue, or blue against red. But the solution will never happen by federal legislation. Democrats will never agree to it and Republicans only pay lip service to doing so.

The only way to stop an inevitably messy secession and ensuing violence is by neutering the scope and ability of the federal government to unlawfully control our lives. Only the states can rein in the federal government by nullifying any legislative law, executive order or judicial decision not explicitly granted by the Constitution. Blue states did this when legalizing marijuana. Red states can do the same with abortion, vaccine mandates, and everything else that the federal government does not have explicit, delegated Constitutional authority to do.

Courtney served 20 years in nuclear engineering aboard submarines and 15 years as a graduate school instructor. He now spends his spare time chasing his grandchildren around the Palouse.