The day after President Obama won the election, I heard several Republicans say they had to take a day off because they “felt so sick.” Some even talked of seceding from the union. While they may not have been serious, I find it interesting to envision different futures. What would happen if we split America to form two countries, a red one and a blue one?

Let’s consider this question and see where it takes us.

How would these countries look?

Each red state has Republicans and each blue state has Democrats. The highest turnout at the polls I saw for Obama or Romney was about two-thirds, with the exception of small states such as Utah (73 percent) and Wyoming (68 percent) for Romney and Hawaii (71 percent) for President Obama. This means if states adopt a red or blue flag, one-third or more of voters would object to the government. Nationally, only about 50 percent of eligible voters voted which means we don’t know what the others would want.

Possible issues

If we split into two countries, people may not be able to relocate with ease. Often, changing states would mean emigrating. And many families would be divided between the two countries. Additionally, how would we split the military and other federal government entities? These problems are typically not discussed when this topic is brought up.

Further, what about the states that are very close to 50-50? Changing these to red or blue would be unfair to almost half of citizens. And many states have predominantly red areas and predominantly blue areas.  Should we break up states, too? Should we reorganize into a federation of counties, or districts?

Here’s another interesting fact: Nationwide, about 40 percent of us live in a different state than we were born in. Four states are 60 to 75 percent immigrants, including Florida. So, state-wise, we’re a nation of immigrants. I’ve lived my life on the West Coast where we average 46 percent non-native in California, 55 percent in Oregon, 53 percent in Washington and a whopping 61 percent in Alaska!

How would we handle these immigrants? Do we ship them back to their home states or do we have them apply for citizenship? As you can see, splitting America can lead to more problems than solutions.

What’s the takeaway?

While it may sound silly to think about splitting America, I hope you found this to be a valuable thought experiment. There have even been some thought provoking accounts on the topic. For instance, in 1975, Ecotopia was published, fantasizing that the west coast seceded from the union. In high school at the time, I was captivated by the idea. However, now that I’ve given it some “vision,” splitting America in two seems pretty undesirable.

Many of us are aware there has always been difficulties when different peoples, cultures, and ideas mix. Just take a look at those who wanted to secede from the nation when President Obama was re-elected. However, I suggest we solve problems pragmatically instead of philosophically. Let’s not let socialism, capitalism, or libertarianism be our “false idols.” Let’s use a solution like PeopleCount.org to design our future together, and then have President Obama and our representatives work together to build it.

What do you think? Did you want your state to secede when President Obama won? Is it useful to consider splitting America , or should we focus on working together?