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American Secession: The Looming Threat of a National Breakup
Contributor(s): Buckley, F. H. (Author)
ISBN: 1641770805     ISBN-13: 9781641770804
Publisher: Encounter Books
OUR PRICE:   $21.59  
Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats
Published: January 2020
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Political Science | Political Freedom
- History | United States - Civil War Period (1850-1877)
- Law | Constitutional
Dewey: 320.973
LCCN: 2019018857
Physical Information: 1.1" H x 9" W x 6.3" (0.95 lbs) 184 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - 1851-1899
- Topical - Civil War
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
Americans have never been more divided, and we're ripe for a breakup. The bitter partisan animosities, the legislative gridlock, the growing acceptance of violence in the name of political virtue--it all invites us to think that we'd be happier were we two different countries. In all the ways that matter, save for the naked force of law, we are already two nations. There's another reason why secession beckons, says F.H. Buckley: we're too big. In population and area, the United States is one of the biggest countries in the world, and American Secession provides data showing that smaller countries are happier and less corrupt. They're less inclined to throw their weight around militarily, and they're freer too. There are advantages to bigness, certainly, but the costs exceed the benefits. On many counts, bigness is badness.

Across the world, large countries are staring down secession movements. Many have already split apart. Do we imagine that we, almost alone in the world, are immune? We had a civil war to prevent a secession, and we're tempted to see that terrible precedent as proof against another effort. This book explodes that comforting belief and shows just how easy it would be for a state to exit the Union if that's what its voters wanted.

But if that isn't what we really want, Buckley proposes another option, a kind of Secession Lite, that could heal our divisions while allowing us to keep our identity as Americans.