Next Stop: Marriage Counseling or Divorce Court?

On November 12th, I published a new blog post titled, “Is It Time for a National Divorce?” The purpose of my article was to pose a simple question: Have the Red States and the Blue States drifted so far apart that reconciliation – let alone peaceful co-existence – is no longer a viable option?

As you can imagine, I received some minor blowback about my post, but many of my readers thanked me for making them think. And yes, more than a few agreed with the basic premise that the core values of California, Oregon, and Washington State are not the core values of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Simply put, Virginia – at least Arlington, Fairfax, Loudon, and Prince William counties – and West Virginia are not on the same page.

Ironically, within a week, a radio host with a “slightly” larger audience than me chimed in on the debate. While not advocating for secession, Rush Limbaugh said that America was so divided that things seemed to be moving in that direction.

"There cannot be a peaceful coexistence of two completely different theories of life, theories of government, theories of how we manage our affairs,” El Rushbo said. “We can't be in this dire a conflict without something giving somewhere along the way."

Then, just this past week, Col. Allen West, the Republican Party Chairman of Texas, said something similar, although he has since clarified his comments after coming under heavy criticism from some quarters. Here is an excerpt from his original statement: “Perhaps law-abiding states should bond together and form a Union of states that will abide by the constitution.”

As Republicans lick our wounds from what was most likely a stolen presidential election, the question remains: Do we try to work together with the liberals and the progressives that have overtaken the Democrat Party and much of America, or do we part ways as amicably as possible?

Make no mistake, this question has very little to do with the 2020 presidential election. If Donald Trump had won, we may have managed to kick the proverbial can down the road for another four years. However, the Democrat Party would have continued to veer to the left and the GOP would have tacked even more to the right.

The bottom line is that we are two very different families trying to live under the same roof… and the arrangement hasn’t been working for many years. As Jesus said in Matthew 12 and Abraham Lincoln echoed in his 1858 address to the Republican State Convention in Springfield, Illinois, "a house divided against itself cannot stand."

Sure, Ronald Regan’s congeniality quieted some of his critics and neither George H.W. Bush nor Bill Clinton were strong ideologues, which somewhat placated their respective opponents. But when the 21st century debuted with a hotly disputed election between Bush 43 and Al Gore, the mold was seemingly broken forever. Now, 20 years later, there appears to be no turning back to the days of compromise and civility.

Speaking of compromise, how do you find a common middle ground on issues such as abortion? One side believes that abortion should be permissible, even to the point of birth and beyond, based on the scientifically flawed argument that a human being with its own unique DNA, fingerprints, and circulatory system is somehow part of the woman’s body that carries it. The other side contends that, since an embryo’s heart begins beating just 18 days after conception, abortion is murder.

The whole debate is reminiscent of King Solomon’s dilemma in I Kings 3:16-28. Faced with two conflicting claims of motherhood by two different women, Solomon’s solution was to divide the child in two, presenting half to each claimant. The real mother objected, preferring to give up her maternal rights in order to save her child’s life, while the pretender was fine with Solomon’s decision. Sensing the truth, the wisest man who ever lived – except for Christ Himself – awarded the child to its rightful mother.

Like so many critical issues, abortion does not lend itself well to compromise. Either the baby is just a blob of tissue… or it is a human being, created in God’s image and likeness, with an eternal soul. There really is no middle ground.

Does that mean that, after a mostly shared history of 244 years, America has finally reached the point of critical mass, with two unequal sides pulling as hard as possible in two irretrievably different directions?

I will leave that question to people with more authority and greater intellect than me to decide. For now, however, a Convention of States – as prescribed by Article V of the U.S. Constitution – may be our last, best hope at preserving an uneasy union and renewing our national wedding vows.

Otherwise, unless Joe Biden (or his replacement) has an advanced degree in marriage counseling, it looks like America’s next stop may be divorce court.