Maybe the United States needs a divorce

Quinn advocates for constitutional conventions yearly

AColin Quinn is convinced the United States need to divorce. He’s been arguing this for a while now, but his new book, “Overstated: A Coast-to- Coast Roast of the 50 States,” takes the premise further.

He imagines the country 244 years into itsmarriage, nearly exhausted by counseling, on the brink of filing the divorce papers.

“The only reason we never broke up was because we all lived with the marriage lie. They’ll change. Give it time,” he writes. “Trying to legally and culturally accommodate a country that has a Vermont and a Kansas living by the same rules. It’s pretty amazing that we pulled it off for as long as we did, really.” The book, which expands on

Q themes he explored in his offWasn’t that why some people Broadway show “Red State, said they voted for

Blue State” (now on Netflix), is President Donald Trump? To styled as a final assessment. Before drain the swamp? filing those divorce papers, he writes, “we have to ask: Is this what we really want? It’s a big decision, so we should look at what we did and how amazing it was and how impossible it was and then if we still say break up, we break up. It’s been done before.”

We recently caught up with Quinn to discuss the new book and what it’s like to be a comedian in these fraught times. Here’s what he had to say in that phone interview, edited for clarity and length. As best as we could, anyway; as he concedes, he tends to ramble.

Q

You’ve floated this notion of a national divorce for a while, but this book feels like a last- ditch effort to get people to reconsider. Are you trying to inspire a reconciliation?

A

Yeah, well, it was the latest attempt to not be part of the problem. I see millions and millions of people on social media and leaders or whatever, and nobody really is saying, here’s what we should do for a solution. Nobody thinks that way. Before Trump, it was always platitudes and just bromide and this kind of generalized we’ve-got-to-sit-together, which is not helpful. And then, obviously Trump takes it to another level of unhelpfulness.”

Nobody’s working towards honesty. What I’ve been saying lately is that only stupid people tell the truth in this country right now, which is another problem. Because anybody intelligent goes, I’m not gonna say what I really think, because I’ll get jammed up. So you’re in a society where nobody can even offer any constructive ideas without everybody attacking them. So you never get a solution this way.

Q

So how would you get to a solution?

A

I would have a constitutional convention every year. First of all, the original Constitutional Convention didn’t have media, didn’t have newspapers there for a reason. And now everybody’s the newspaper. So you can’t get stuff done when everybody’s weighing in and criticizing each step of the way. So I wouldmake it a secret thing for, like, a month every year. Let people really get to the root of it and come out with solutions. Even if they fail, we at least have changes we’re going to try that year ... whether it be that we should change what the definition of Congress or the Senate is, because right now it’s obviously not working for anybody. So why would you keep doing this the same way?

But they unfortunately went a little overboard, you know? I actually know people who voted for Trump, but were Bernie supporters. People are trying to upend the system, but you don’t need to upend it like that. Structurally, I don’t blame the politicians. Our system just needs to be changed a little bit, where people can actually do things and function. You know, my friend who used to work for Democratic places back in the ’ 60s — or his family did — his uncle used to say, one thing about the fact that we’re

Q not corrupt now: You can’t do What’s it like to be a comedian anything. Nobody can give anyone right now? With jobs. Nothing gets done. So everyone weighing in and criticizing he said corruption had its positive via social media? side, which is you could function. But now we’re taking checks and balances to this weird place where it’s all checks and balances, and nothing is done. I mean, obviously talking to people from Chicago about this, you’re like, Hey, listen, we still have our system in place _

Q

Yeah, I was going to say A

All right, fair enough. But there’s obviously a fine line. You know, where people are, just like, This is the way the system should work, and then nothing gets done vs. what’s practical, which turns into corruption. All our intents are good, but if you have a 300 million people, and none of themare happy, you need to change things up a little bit. That’s all I’msaying. We need a giant committee every year

... to be doing something, because you know, this is obviously going in a horrible direction.

Q

But who gets to be on the giant committee?

A

People who are dying, because they’ll tell the truth. And maybe a bunch of little kids. Little kids will tell the truth until they’re about 4 years old. Maybe 5.

A

It’s funny, because I just did a kind of a thing with

Q a bunch of friends of mine, and, You wouldn’t even vote basically, you know, comedians right now? are more on the left. Obviously.

A

A lotmore. I asked, “Who’s the Well, maybe I would. worst audience? Woke people or MAGA? And they said, being

Q politic, “both.” In November, in the presidential election, you won’t vote?

Q

What do you think?

A

I think that they’re both very rigid people. I would say that right now wokeness covers more ground than MAGA does. MAGA, they have a heart attack when you’re talking about Trump, but otherwise, they might be a little more loose. But whoever thought censorship would even come from the left? I don’t let anybody off the hook, because they’re both bad in the sense that laughter is the goal.

Q

You’vemanaged to remain about as centrist as anyone can these days.

A

I can honestly say that

80% of what both parties believe makes me sick. I feel like both parties are living a lie. They have one thing in common, which is they’re so rigid and so fanatic. They’re like zealots. Unless you go down the line completely with each party, they consider you suspect. It’s such a stupid way to live. There’s no room for contradiction. This is ridiculous. So I can’t say either party I have any respect for. I don’t. I wouldn’t even vote right now.

A

Yeah, I’ll have to vote. Q

Is the Republican Party still the Republican Party or the party of Trump?

A

They’ve let it become the party of Trump, the cult of personality. They’ve let him. They’ve ignored his madness — but this is what I’m saying about the system. Let’s take the Republican Party — per