Now that the dust is beginning to settle from the 2004 USA presidential election, virtually everyone is trying to figure out how to unite this greatly divided country, well almost everyone. I am one of the exceptions. I figure if the "Balkanization" is good enough for the Balkans and Yugoslavia and other culturally divided countries, why not try it in the good old USA. The greatest and most divisive issue illustrated by this election was the difference in cultural or "moral" values. By "Balkanizing" the USA the Blues and Reds could each have their own political process, social structure, religious identity (or not) and economy that would reflect the preferences of a significant majority of each population. To further unite the population of each new country, an amnesty and change of residence and allegiance could be arranged over a reasonable transition period. I won’t go into much detail but lets take a quick look at what this Divided We Stand arrangement would be like. Geography: The Red States of America would be one contiguous piece of dirt except for Alaska. The Blue States of America would be in two big chunks plus Hawaii. As long as the Blues could get travel rights across the RSA (a toll would apply to Blues, of course), this could work. The soon to be defunct USA has reasonable border crossing rules with Canada which could be a model for the BSA and RSA borders. RSA would have a tremendous advantage over BSA in terms of square miles ~3 million square miles vs. ~¾ million square miles but the quality difference of the land in each new nation would be at least somewhat compensatory. Both countries would still have ports on both oceans as well as borders with Canada and Mexico. But BSA would not have a port or beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. Government Seat: Since the current capitol of the USA is in a Blue area, I would think King George might want to relocate his throne to the Bush Ranch, while the real center of real Red power would probably move to some undisclosed location in Wyoming or perhaps the Dakotas. Population: In pure numbers the gross population of BSA and RSA would be very nearly identical, at about 145 million each, which would rank them each at 9 or 10 right after Russia currently ranked 8th by population. The current USA has several "properties" with populations that are not contiguous to either BSA or RSA, including Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, etc. These regions could each have a referendum to see which of the new nations their citizens would prefer to be associated with, or be granted their independence if they so desired. Assuming that the Blues in the USA military would prefer to fight a defensive war as opposed to an unprovoked war of imperialism, they should have the right to resign their commissions or renounce their enlistments and would form the core of the new BSA defensive military organization. Also, since the Reds tend to prefer white folks to people of color, they should be happy to learn that their new RSA would be 81.3% white whereas only 77.1% of the USA is white. Economy: BSA would initially have an advantage over the RSA. Gross National Product (GNP) of the BSA would be 53.3% of current USA GNP while the RSA would be only 46.7%. In terms of Per Capita Personal Income the BSA at $34,545 would also be greater than the RSA at only $28,708. If I were a Red, I would not worry too much about this initial discrepancy. Since the Reds believe that profligate spending on non-essential wars and giving tax cuts to the wealthy are the secrets to economic prosperity; based on this philosophy the RSA should catch up and even surpass the BSA in economic terms. However, there will still be some significant differences in the economic bases. To point out just a few, the vast majority of TV and Movie industries, most high tech businesses, and all the stock exchanges would be Blue industries. Plus, little Blue Delaware has more Fortune 500 corporate headquarters than any other state and what is left of the manufacturing industries are also concentrated in the BSA. This being the case, it should not be a surprise to learn that, with the exception of big oil, the RSA would be primarily an agrarian society. Without the liberal Blues messing with their social agendas, maybe the Reds might even legalize slavery again to help pick the cotton in Alabama and the Tobacco in North Carolina. Thom Riddle Red by birth, Blue by choice