The home of the free allows a symbol of slavery and white supremacy to be flown on the grounds of one of its state capitols. And the land of the brave refuses to tackle difficult issues like meaningful gun control laws out of fear of powerful but dangerous lobbies. Perhaps it’s time the country considered a Brobdingnagian solution. Perhaps it’s time for a good old-fashioned star-spangled secession.

A country is a geographical designation with a singular government. A nation is a group of people with a similar cultural, historical, ethnic, or religious background. I’ve felt for a long time that we are fast becoming two different nations within one country.

On the one hand, one of these nations is fairly progressive and outward-looking. This country believes in universal health care, a strong social safety net, and progressive taxation. It recognizes the benefits from and value of a diverse population that welcomes immigrants as both a vital source of skilled and unskilled labor and a source of cultural reinvigoration and reinvention. The identity of this country is always changing and adapting to its shifting identity but at its core, it is founded upon the values of liberty and justice tempered by social responsibility. In reality, it’s more like Canada and parts of Western Europe.

The other nation is more traditional and inward-looking. This nation continues to put blind faith in a meritocracy that is quickly becoming a relic of the past. It posits that you have what you have because you earned it and what you earn, by and large, you should be able to keep. It believes that government should be as small as possible and regulate as little as possible. It believes that our identity and our constitution are inviolable and should not change; it favors a big stick approach to diplomacy and a big fence approach to immigration. Not all of these suppositions are irrational in and of themselves, but they increasingly do not reflect the reality of present-day America. In contravention of reality, this nation wishes we could go back to the America of the 1950s.

These two visions of America cannot comfortably coexist. It’s the fundamental reason why our politics have become so very intractable. We have fundamentally different views of what our country stands for and where we should be going. Lincoln was right that a house divided cannot stand. But maybe he was wrong about dividing the house.

Imagine if you will, the United Coastal States of America. The states from Maryland to Maine and the West Coast would simply break away and form their own independent, socially-progressive, forward-leaning republic. Barack Obama would instantly become a centrist candidate instead of being branded a “socialist”, which he most certainly is not. We could then have a true left-wing party that pushed hard on climate change and income equality, a centrist party led by liberal-leaning Obama types, and a viable, socially-progressive yet economically-conservative right-leaning party led by Hillary and Bill. We would still keep close economic ties with the Confederated States of America and probably maintain a monetary union. It seems unthinkable but would it be so terrible? Maybe we would both be better off with a common market and separate governments. In this way, both nations could enact the social policies that truly reflected their core beliefs and their aspirations for their respective societies.

In its current incarnation, however, the United States is awash in contradiction. We are home to the greatest tech incubator (Silicon Valley) that the world has ever seen and yet one-third of us still denies man-made climate change.[1] We are the most Christian developed nation in the world[2] yet we account for more violent deaths and more prisoners than any other advanced democracy. We put blind faith in a meritocracy that is witnessing the crumbling of the American dream: inequality continues to grow while social mobility petrifies in place. We have effectively assimilated wave after wave of immigrants from Italians to Irish to Asians and Latinos but can’t (or won’t) embrace our own native black population as equal citizens.

How can we claim to be a bastion of freedom and justice when we deny so many of our citizens these basic rights? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the 1st Amendment (to say nothing of its immediate successor). I think our freedom of speech laws are vastly superior to those of Europe. In Germany, it is against the law to deny the Holocaust—I would never agree with this particular opinion, but I wouldn’t seek to prevent someone from voicing it. I’m with Voltaire—I think you should be able to say hateful things as long as you do not take hateful action or actively incite others to do so. But that does not mean that our government should ever endorse hateful speech. Flying the confederate flag on the grounds of the South Carolina State Capitol is just such a public endorsement, and it is patently unacceptable and wildly inappropriate.

I also struggle with our claim to be a Christian country when so many avowed Christians seemingly do not care about the plight of the poor or the disenfranchised all the while abetting or even promoting a culture of violence. Jesus’ philosophy, at its core, was truly revolutionary. He preached that we should honor the poor, that we who have more have a responsibility to take care of our less-fortunate brothers. I don’t claim to know him personally, but he seems like the kind of guy who would have been in favor of food stamps and paying employees a living wage. And there was also that turn the other cheek, kiss-of-peace bit he was so fond of. I can’t seem to remember any parable about Jesus feeling the need to arm himself against Romans who might break into his house with a slingshot or a sword. And this is a guy who had very valid personal security concerns. Again, seemed like a non-violence kind of guy. I just don’t get how the most supposedly Christian elements of our country are the ones who largely don’t support programs for the poor and are infatuated with gun ownership based on the sanctity of an anachronistic clause in our constitution. The next time we’re successfully invaded by Britain, you can call me an idiot and tell me that you told me so. Until then, it’s time to push for rational, common-sense gun control laws like every other advanced democracy. Impossible you say, well, maybe you can hold up an Onion article[3] in your defense like Jack Warner did.[4] You’ll be in similar company.

None of this is to say that liberals have a monopoly on truth, and conservatives have it all wrong. There are many good conservative ideas. Fiscal responsibility for one. Though Republicans have gotten away from that in recent years, they remain the party that tries to reign in overspending and avoid burdensome deficits. This is absolutely necessary if we’re going to avoid bankrupting the country and have a sustainable public sector that provides vital services and infrastructure. I’m also with the Republicans in supporting the Trans Pacific Partnership. I think the Democrats are being incredibly myopic and pandering to the powerful lobbies that support them in opposing it. Rejecting this trade agreement will result in millions of lost jobs and billions of dollars in foregone trade. But there is a divide in this country, and it is increasingly real, polarizing, and stark.

America remains, in many respects, an amazing, vibrant country. We’re still the world leaders in innovation. We’re still home to the world’s most successful mass migration experiment. We’re still the world’s foremost economic power with more open trade than any of our rivals. But our refusal to address the many contradictions in the fabric of our society and our democracy may lead to an unraveling of the great American tapestry. Maybe it’s time to consider the unthinkable. I think we all know that secession is a few shades more than unlikely, but it’s getting to the point where divorce is preferable to domestic violence.

[1] http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/22/3462690/us-number-one-climate-denial/

[2] http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/faith/2009/12/united_states_is_most_religiou.html

[3] http://www.theonion.com/article/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-36131

[4] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/world/americas/ex-fifa-official-jack-warner-cites-onion-article-in-defense.html?_r=0