EDITORIAL: Americans must learn to embrace unity
Like it or not, we're all in this together.
As the United States prepares to celebrate - or at least acknowledge - its 250th birthday in the coming month, we are reminded of the common heritage, shared interests and unique political experiment that defines our nation. We also are reminded of the Constitution that binds - and protects - all Americans in a framework that unites our 50 states.
All of that is pertinent when political and cultural discord is prominent. And it is pertinent when a recent article from The Olympian details the disunity that permeates our United States.
On one side are frequent calls for the creation of a new state focusing on rural concerns, perhaps uniting Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon. Perhaps including Idaho. Perhaps combining Northern California - where residents often feel detached from the rest of the Golden State - with Southern Oregon. The goal, proponents inevitably say, is to join areas that are relatively similar in cultural and economic terms.
As The Olympian explains: "Those dreams speak to a growing disenchantment with the confines and political quirks of the state's boundaries."
At various times, 13 counties in Oregon have voted to join Idaho, reflecting a movement that has ebbed as often as the tides. And multiple efforts in the Washington Legislature have proposed a new "State of Liberty" east of the Cascades. Meanwhile, one need not travel far through Southern Oregon before encountering a "State of Jefferson" sign, reflecting a small-but-noisy secession movement that dates to the 1940s.
But the desire for separation is not limited to rural, conservative citizens seeking to escape the political power of population centers in Seattle or Portland. Some people on the west side of the Cascades also feel disconnected from their fellow Washingtonians or Oregonians and from many of their fellow Americans.
As The Olympian quotes one citizen from a rally at the Washington Capitol: "I'm happy to be a citizen of Cascadia more than I'm happy to be an American. I don't know if I'll ever see secession in my lifetime. I would support it if we did."
For the record, if the "blue" states of Washington, Oregon and California could join with British Columbia to form a new nation, it would include 57 million people and have the world's third-largest economy. The three U.S. states alone would combine for the globe's third- or fourth-largest economy.
But economic might does not make right. Nor does it make sense or pass legal muster.
Dividing a state or seceding from the United States would require the approval of a legislature and Congress. As the U.S. Constitution says: "New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress."
In addition, the last time any states attempted to secede, the effort did not work out well for them. As President Abraham Lincoln said around that time, in the midst of a bloody conflict that held the nation together, "We are not enemies, but friends." As Lincoln also noted, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
The words ring true today. And as we reflect on the United States' upcoming birthday, the truth is clear - we must learn to stand together rather than desiring to stand alone.
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