Three Cheers for Sarah Silverman’s Secession!

Sarah Silverman and Ken Burns are in agreement on one thing: America is in bad shape.

Burns thinks things are as bad as they were in the 1850s on the eve of war. Silverman just wants to create two separate countries.

Huzzah!

Silverman is an award winning actress most famous for her voice work in Disney films, but she is an outspoken leftist who is openly discussing the prospect of left wing secession.

Burns has made dozens of documentary films, the most famous being his work on baseball, jazz, and the War for Southern Independence (the Civil War for the uninitiated).

They are both right. The United States is more divided now than in 1860, culturally, politically, and socially.

The divide is no longer completely regional–it never really was in 1860 either as a lot of Jeffersonians lived outside of Dixie–but we still have the same problem. Most Americans love one-size fits all Lincolnian government.

That means secession is still a remote possibility, probably even impossible.

That is until more people start to talk about it. Even as recently as 1997, it would have been unheard of for any major actress to call for secession.

We’re getting somewhere, and the calls for an amicable divorce will only grow louder if the current political crisis continues. Americans are angry because no one wants to be ruled by a slim or non-existent majority.

The only real solution to the problem is decentralization.

We just need more people to get it.

I discuss Silverman and Burns on Episode 519 of The Brion McClanahan Show.