LEFT AND RIGHT, TOGETHER IN PERFECT HARMONY
Governor Rick Perry's ruminations on the possibilities of Texas seceding from the union got me to thinking that this may not be such a bad idea. An independent Texas would inevitably become a magnet for disgruntled conservatives eager to find a place filled with like-minded citizens.
But what about my brothers and sisters on the far left? I'll bet a lot of them would love to have a country of their own, a place where they can try out all their wonderful theories of governance.
After considering various locales — Massachusetts, California, Oregon or Wisconsin — I thought again about Texas. It's a big state with plenty of room. Instead of letting the conservatives have the whole thing, why not tell them that if you really are serious about secession we will go along with it, with just one teensy weensy condition: You have to make a country for the liberals.
The simplest way to do this would be by snapping a line running north to south smack down the middle of the state. Everything to the right of the line would be called Right Texas, for the conservatives. Everything to the left of the line would be called Left Texas, for the liberals and leftists. This would be a fitting symbol of the greater importance of political divisions over geographical divisions in today's society.
I know what you are thinking, but give it a little time and like me you might find a certain appeal in its balancing of oppositions. Finally, there would be a country that diehard conservatives and liberals could call their own. Each side could set up a system in tune with their principles without fear of any opposition to gum up the works. No ACLU in Right Texas. And don't even think about the NRA taking up in Left Texas. Left and right, together in perfect harmony. Well, sort of, anyway.
Who knows, over time you find that one really does work better than the other. And in case it turns out that the extremes of the right and the left need each other more than they think, well, they could always vote to merge and become just plain old Texas.
What in this for the rest of us get? Well, hopefully without the extremists around to push every debate over the cliff, we moderates might actually get some things done for a change. You know, honest debate and the reasonable compromises, that sort of stuff, which if I recall is what made this country great to begin with.
September 6, 2009
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Governor Rick Perry
