"The Next Civil War", by Stephen Marche

Blending actual events with imagined future events, the author paints a picture of how the next civil war could come about.

But the most interesting thing to me was the topic of secession as an alternative to a civil war. This is an area I have long been interested in. Marche discusses the active secession movements in Texas and California. I was disappointed that he didn't mention the long-time secession movement in Vermont, a movement known as The Second Republic, which is a reference to the period of 1787-1791, when Vermont functioned as an independent republic.

Secession certainly wouldn't solve all of the grievance problems, because the divisions in our country are not strictly defined by geography. Even in the reddest of states, 35% or more of the residents vote blue, and 35% or more of blue state residents vote red.

Marche envisions four different countries which could arise from a beak-up. When I wrote about this subject in my post of 9/19/08, I envisioned as many as six or seven. But the principle is the same. The idea is to create countries which have more cohesiveness than the U.S. does now. More cohesiveness would bring less strife, less crime, less hate, and a greater sense of community, which is badly needed these days.