Partitioning country would lead to mass migration and starvation

Under our constitution, “no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.” The only cost of participation in our democracy would appear to be mutual respect, lost for a time during our Civil War and currently endangered again.

Our republic has continued to wrestle with divisions over state versus federal prerogatives ever since the onset of that civil war and the shaky aftermath of a so-called reconstruction.

It would appear a total reconstruction has never occurred. Some factions continue to challenge the authority of a central authority to govern. The attempted insurrection of Jan. 6 brought old issues of conflict over federal prerogatives to the fore once more. There is little discussion of genuine reconciliation and means defined to achieve such a goal.

The Supreme Court majority has recently tended to support some factional prerogatives over those of a federal system. Our federal democracy appears to be threatened and may even be waning. The time may have arrived when Americans need to consider partition among its states to put an end to this burgeoning conflict.

India faced this dilemma in the 1940s when it was finally decided that partition was the best way out of an entrenched conflict between groups with conflicting beliefs.

We must remember, however, that the decision to partition and become the new nations of India and Pakistan came at a considerable cost. Many people were uprooted from their homes in order to establish new lives elsewhere on the subcontinent. Over a million people were killed in the violence that ensued.

But perhaps this kind of solution is all for the best.

Imagine two countries, once indivisible with liberty and justice for all, now divided into warring camps.

Imagine people on the move in ways that would dwarf the great Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s, when over 450,000 fled westward.

Imagine starvation, economic deprivation and increased homelessness, as two new countries struggle to establish new ways to feed and fund themselves and provide for a common defense.

Imagine the conflict as people crowd in upon one other and fight for ownership of each other’s properties and resources.

This may be all for the best if we cannot resolve as one nation to rededicate ourselves to the outlandish notion that all men are created equal.

This may be for the best if we cannot endure as one nation with liberty and justice for all.

This may be best if we can no longer conceive of a free nation, where citizens are allowed to make their own decisions about the course of their lives, the care of their bodies, and welfare of their families.

If these thoughts ring true, then bring on the carnage, remembering the 850,000 who died in the 1860s — and be willing to magnify misery in the name of separation.

Save us, save us please, from a new birth of freedom.