This article was written in April, 2020, just as the pandemic was taking over, and before the George Floyd riots, Biden election, or January 6. Americans are even more divided now.

By Kyle Chan, Medium

Author’s note: I was surprised by the amount of attention this Medium post received, which I originally wrote as a quick thought experiment. Of course, I have my own personal biases, which a number of commenters have pointed out. If you have a different opinion, I invite you to share your own vision of a two-state solution in the comments or to write your own Medium post and include a link. I still maintain my overarching point that both red and blue America would be better off without each other.

The US is more divided than ever. According to Pew, 91% of Americans today say that conflicts between Democrats and Republicans are either strong or very strong, a higher number than in 2016 (85%) and 2012 (81%). The political and cultural divide has become so intense that we must seriously consider whether both sides might not be better off if the US were divided into separate countries.

State coalitions have already begun to form. After Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change in June 2017, the US Climate Alliance was formed by the governors of Washington, New York, and California to continue progress toward climate-related policy goals. The US Climate Alliance now includes governors from 24 states. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, several state coalitions have formed to coordinate policies for reopening their economies including the Western States Pact, an East Coast coalition, a coalition of southeast states, and a coalition of midwestern states.

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