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A breakup in the US

To love the United States, you must first love your own state.

"The God who fashioned New Hampshire teased the high country with tiny folk," Ralph Waldo Emerson famously quipped. He was a native of the Bay State.

Our two states have historically harbored animosity against one another. New Hampshire believes Massachusetts is full of snobs and prigs, whereas Massachusetts thinks New Hampshire is full of bumpkins and yokels. It's become a bit of a custom throughout the years. "Fishing people, nominal Anglicans" greeted the Puritans as they moved north from Boston, and they "mingled awkwardly," according to the great Alan Taylor. That's probably an understatement.

Mr. Emerson, the puritanical progressive of the 1850s, is still enraged.

Little guys" refers to New Hampshire's anti-slavery policies. Granite Staters, by and large, were abolitionists. Abraham Lincoln referred to New Hampshire's only president, Franklin Pierce, as a "wicked free-soiler." Because of his heroics in the Mexican-American War, Pierce gained notoriety.) As a result, Emerson felt compelled to despise both him and his own state of New Hampshire. Massachusetts liberals at the time believed that Texas belonged to the Mexican people. If you're up for it, of course.)

As it is now, New Hampshire is more rural and conservative than Massachusetts. As a result, one may conclude that Massachusetts was more devoted to emancipation than other states, although this isn't really true Both nations varied on how to get there, not what they wanted to achieve. Farmers like Pierce feared that the agricultural economy of the South would be destroyed and everyone, black and white, would be thrown into poverty if slavery was abolished in the wrong manner. That didn't bother Emerson in the least. Suffocating and demeaning, he thought, was his view of agricultural labour. Emerson, on the other hand, would not be sad if it went away with the end of chattel slavery.

(You may wonder, "How did he plan to feed those Southerners, then?") "He must have come up with a fresh plan." He didn't, in fact. If you think that's too far-fetched, I'll ask you how President Biden wants to pay for his Build Back Better Plan. Liberals have a tendency to overspend. It's a lot of work.)

Orestes Brownson, a key member of Emerson's group, became so deranged that he not only abandoned the Transcendentalist movement but also converted to Catholicism. Abolitionists like Brownson and conservatives like Pierce were both in Brownson's wheelhouse. Born to Vermont farmers, he was always resentful of Massachusetts' dominance over his own state and neighboring New Hampshire as well.

Among Brownson's many essays, one takes aim at a certain kind of Yankee radical, one who's

Never satisfied until he's achieved his goal of bringing the whole world down to his level of comfort or discomfort... The man is well-meaning, but he uses his good intentions as an excuse to meddle in everyone else's business as if it were his own, and while claiming to be fighting for religion and morality, he actually fights against all of our natural tendencies to be generous and kind, making matters worse instead of better.

Obviously, he was referring to Emerson.

When he denounced "madmen amongst us who speak of exterminating the Southern leaders and of New Englandizing the South," he was undoubtedly referring to Emerson. However, when the chips were down, both Brownson and Pierce sided with the Union. Then then, I believe they were correct to do so.

What's the point of bringing this up now? That's why I want to make it clear that I'm not wanting to relive the Civil War, given what follows. The exact opposite is true. My forefathers arrived in New England about 1630. Those who fought for the Union have my full support. The term "neo-Confederate" doesn't apply to me at all. Neither am I, nor the 47% of Americans who share my opinion.

Yes, 47% of the population agrees. "It is time to divide the nation, preferring blue/red states seceding from the Union," according to a University of Virginia survey released in September, 41% of Biden backers and 52% of Trump voters. As a result of the NoVa Palefaces vote, the punditry has never been more nervous in the history of polls. The remedy is simple, but it has been dragged out for far too long. The Civil War in New England had already been raging for 200 years by the time the North and South started fighting.

New Hampshire is where I call home. Do I want to break away from Texas or South Carolina? The Union is here to stay, so long as it does. However, if you ask me whether I'd want to leave Massachusetts, you may refer to me as Johnny Reb.

The most apparent argument to split up the states is because there are too many of them. It's ludicrous to think that a single government can efficiently control 300 million people spread out across 4 million square miles and valued around $23 trillion. Maine, Kentucky, New Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii's interests do not even come close to overlapping half of the time, much alone all of the time. It will be much more absurd if Puerto Rico is granted statehood.

Our relationship isn't tense, yet we're not friendly. We don't even have a mutual acquaintance. My taxes are decided by some scumbag in Chicago, why is that? Then why should I have a say in what his children are taught in the classrooms? Chicago's population is really two and a half times greater than New Hampshire's. My state is no longer significant because of just one city; we've been buried. Just how fair is that?

There's no logical way to make this work. Together, the states of Utah, Nevada, Iowa, Alaska, Mississippi, Kansas, New Mexico and Nebraska have more eligible voters than all of California's neighboring states combined. Other states with a larger number of eligible voters include West Virginia and Idaho. More people live in the 10 most populated states than in the rest of the states. But the large states still manage to oppress the little ones, in spite of the Electoral College (which has ruled over us for far too long). The Democrats in San Francisco are the best, which is why being a Democrat is so important. Why does the Republican Party have mediocre Texasans like George W. Bush Jr. and Ted Cruz, but also mediocre Floridaans like Marco Rubio and Rick Scott?

This brings us to our next topic. The United States allows much too much freedom of movement. Thousands of commuters from Boston are making the move to New Hampshire right now, not because they like the Granite State but because they can no longer afford to live in the Bay State.. North Shore Massachusetts is too pricey, and the suburbs are too hazardous. They come here to take advantage of the reduced property and sales taxes (especially for renters).

While this flood of white-collar employees has pushed up real estate prices, it's not all bad news. Developers are razing rural towns like Hollis because of the abundance of farmland there. Row after row of condominiums and McMansions are being sowed in the place of whole woods that have been mowed away.

These immigrants have obviously brought their liberal beliefs with them. New Hampshire has gone from a libertarian bastion to an all-Democratic congressional delegation in only a few election cycles. Even if our governor is a moderate Republican who believes in limited government, he must keep vetoing bills that would impose the state's first income tax. (The poverty rate in New Hampshire is the lowest in the nation.) Democrats have also been seeking to establish our first-ever open-carry ban since the incident at Rittenhouse. murder rates in New Hampshire are likewise among the lowest in the United States.

New Hampshire isn't the only target of Massachusetts' wrath these days. Colonization is underway.

There is a similar trend throughout the nation. So now that liberals have ruined their own states, they're relocating to wealthy conservative states, turning them blue, and ruining them as well. Since the creation of Los Angeles and San Francisco as genuine shithole cities, many leftists have fled to Texas in search of better living conditions. Friends just returned from a trip to Sacramento where they spent time with relatives. "It rained the night before we flew in, so there wasn't as much poo on the sidewalk as last year," he replied when I inquired about the situation. It's a terrific day to be a Californian right now.

That said, what if I like New Hampshire as it now stands? Why can't I maintain my firearms and cheap taxes and my family's farm? Isn't it possible that Texans don't want their state to become another California? When the town's monthly Pride Parade rolls around, some parents may be concerned that their children may be exposed to a crowd of half-naked, leather-clad BDSM freaks. Let me tell you something, pardner: We wear Levi's beneath our chaps in this part of the world.

Because of this, states' rights are so important, and please, no more of that smarmy APUSH nonsense for me. Some genius will remark, "Oh, certainly. You're right." States' rights—to possess slaves—were the sole issues at stake in the Civil War. Afterwards, he'll do a little dance and act as if that was the cleverest thing he's ever said. Fast-forward to the present day after a period of 160 years. When Californians flood into Texas, Texans are forced to watch as they inject heroin at the bus stop, defecate on the sidewalk, and use tax money to pay for their kid's sex change. That is incorrect.

Red states should not be subjected to policies that have failed in blue states. Liberals should bear the costs of their own disastrous policies, not the other way around, and this is incorrect. They wouldn't implement such rules if they knew what they were doing. As it is, they'll continue to bear the burden of the country's economic, social, and cultural costs. No city in the United States will be able to match Detroit's financial prowess, safety, or cleanliness.

Secession has nonpolitical justifications. Agricultural practices, for example, are entrenched in the local culture. It's possible to get Maine blueberries in Louisiana, but moving all those oranges from Florida to Colorado is bad for the environment. It's also well-known that preservatives have a negative impact on our health. Flash-freezing alters the nutritional value of food in addition to altering the flavor. In fact, since industrial farms use soil that has been depleted of nutrients, food cultivated there has less health advantages.

It is also beneficial for our economy to practice small-scale, organic, bioregional farming. It generates more stable marketplaces that are less susceptible to conflict or stock market swings. In the United States, up to 25 percent of the workforce was made up of self-employed farmers. For people who wish to own land and earn a good life without completing a college degree, farming is a great option (or at least it can be).

Farmers who compete with Big Ag can't provide us with locally produced food that is both sustainable and reasonably priced. In order for governments to take action against corporate agricultural monopolies, it is very tough. Why? The Commerce Clause has been extended to indicate that only the federal government may deal with national and international corporations, in part because of the jurisprudence surrounding this clause. Rural governments are unable to speak up for their farmers because Big Ag has one of the most powerful lobbies on Capitol Hill.

There is also the issue of how much biodiversity has been lost as a result of our desire to eat bananas in January. My father-in-law, for example, is an apple aficionado. We had nod head apples, which are native to New Hampshire, for Thanksgiving. Some think Samuel Jewett, a local farmer from the 1800s who was noted for walking with his head down, inspired their moniker. Nods of the head like a gong to galas or granny smiths. Despite this, I had never heard of them. I'd wager that 99 percent of New Hampshire residents haven't heard of it either. However, bananas are available in January.

This homogenizing, stifling globalism has its detractors, of course. It's encouraging to see craft beer and "microbrews" gaining popularity. We've gone from having thirty IPAs to having sixty APAs to having 120 NHPAs in the Granite State. But it's worth noting that, prior to the 1950s, almost all brews were microbrews. After Prohibition ended, the federal government once again aided Big Suds in creating a monopoly.

The present union is a far cry from what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they drafted the Constitution. Manifest Destiny is not about "just Powers from the Consent of the Governed," but rather a transcontinental empire. "Free and Sovereign States" is also stated in the Declaration of Independence, but the annexation of independent republics like Texas (1845) and California (1846), not to mention the Kingdom of Hawaii, makes this claim difficult to reconcile (1893).

That brings us to our next point. As long as an American is seen by Washington as nothing more than an object to be ruled over, it should come as no surprise that our government has engaged in so many conflicts abroad. Vietnam and Syria are getting the same message as Texas and Hawaii: "We're liberating you, whether you like it or not."

Nothing in history teaches us more than this: tiny, free states that become too large succumb to a lethal cocktail of ambition and decadence. When you can't satisfy your hunger and you're too lethargic to do it, you end up eating yourself. British Empire and Roman Empire both had something happen to them. It's inevitable that the American Empire will fall.

That isn't the only option.

In the wake of Brexit and Calexit, we can see that the fissures are deeper than we had previously thought. You might argue that Westerners, on all sides of the political spectrum, have grown weary of imposing their views on each other.

This isn't because we despise one another. The exact opposite is true. It's because we still care enough about each other to attempt to save our relationship. When it comes to roommates, friends aren't always the best option. They may be terrible roommates at times. It's possible that we all simply need a break.

'Love your neighbor as yourself.' — a wise man once remarked. Yet another neighbor said, "Nice fences make good neighbors."

This is the one thing I want more than anything in this world. I'm not sure about you. An anti-federalist is not a separatist. So long as we can "throw off such Government, and establish fresh Guards for their future protection," then I'm all for it.

Make America great again isn't the priority right now. Let's see what happens if we all go our own ways. Despite the fact that Maine and Hawaii may never reunite, who knows? My heart becomes fonder while I'm away. TX may allow New Mexico and Oklahoma to join the new Lone Star Republic. A New England Commonwealth would be ideal, but at this point, New York could just grab Connecticut.

A reorganization of states' delegations would be a positive outcome. Jefferson might be formed by Northern California and southern Oregon. They might form a partnership with the Lincoln State, which includes parts of northern Idaho and eastern Washington. It would be much simpler if Dakota was a single entity.

The only thing I'm doing here is spitballing. The goal is to increase individual liberties while also improving the effectiveness and transparency of the federal government. For the preservation and celebration of America's great diversity—its numerous histories and geographies, customs and folkways—the it's purpose of our project. In truth, the United States of America is nothing exceptional, but each of the fifty states that comprise our nation has something unique to offer visitors. To mix them all together would be a waste of time.

Teddy Roosevelt was born in New York and we can thank the city for it. Sam Houston hails from Texas. John Muir was born in California. Emerson was born in Massachusetts, but it wasn't all awful. What have we gained by the creation of the state of New Texafornichusetts? A new couple: Trump and Markle. Honestly, I'm not very impressed.

If we wish to restore greatness to the United States in the year 2021, we must all take some time to reflect on how we got here in the first place. In the same way that you can't love a forest until you've loved a tree, you can't love the United States unless you've fallen in love with a state. Specifically, your state: the area you call home and the people you consider your neighbors.

Maybe we can get the band back together after we've rediscovered those old loves. If our devotion is to the United States and not the Union, we'll be OK. If we care about our nation more than we care about our government, then we'll be OK. That's exactly how the Founding Fathers envisioned it to work out. They were also a lot more intelligent than we give them credit for.

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