Thanks for that thoughtful response! I don't have a clue what Woke is supposed to mean these days, as its application as a pejorative seems to be constantly fluctuating. (Finally breaking down and demanding a definition is one of the things that got me a ban.) I think that if people like you and I, with certainly different views, yet not extremist views, could sit down over a beer or coffee and chat, we'd find a lot of common ground. Unfortunately, factionalization and internet culture do their best to drive us into opposing camps. I try very hard not to just go along with the Zeitgeist and become a rote Blue Factioner...
As a secularist, I have great concern about a movement that is passing religious laws in many states and wants to give itself the power to throw out election results that don't favor it. I would not want to live in a country ruled by the whims of Ron DeSantis. Booze (still banned in some counties in AR and TN!), gambling and porn are fripperies; education, contraception and voting are essential. (IMHO.) However, I recognize that there are other people whose preferred way of life - for themselves, not anything they wish to do to others - is hindered or prohibited by the sort of government prevailing in blue states, and who feel themselves culturally treated as second-class citizens in those states.
It is for these reasons (and some others) that I think division of the Union into smaller countries might actually be desirable, and the more people who move in advance into the reasonable territories of plausible successor states that would suit them, the better. It will never be the case that everyone is happy with their government, but if those who want very different forms of government can mostly live in different places, fewer people will be very dissatisfied.
Re: Jmg...
As a secularist, I have great concern about a movement that is passing religious laws in many states and wants to give itself the power to throw out election results that don't favor it. I would not want to live in a country ruled by the whims of Ron DeSantis. Booze (still banned in some counties in AR and TN!), gambling and porn are fripperies; education, contraception and voting are essential. (IMHO.) However, I recognize that there are other people whose preferred way of life - for themselves, not anything they wish to do to others - is hindered or prohibited by the sort of government prevailing in blue states, and who feel themselves culturally treated as second-class citizens in those states.
It is for these reasons (and some others) that I think division of the Union into smaller countries might actually be desirable, and the more people who move in advance into the reasonable territories of plausible successor states that would suit them, the better. It will never be the case that everyone is happy with their government, but if those who want very different forms of government can mostly live in different places, fewer people will be very dissatisfied.