The podcast delves into the concept of a national divorce in the US, exploring potential splits based on ideology, statistics on public support, reducing Civil War chances, divide on gun rights & abortion, the Big Sort, media framing, constitutional evolution, push for a constitutionally centered society, fighting peak woke, and more.
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Significant Minority Supports Divorce
Public support is non-negligible: an Axios-Ipsos poll (Mar 2023) found 25% of Republicans and ~20% overall favor a Republican-led national divorce.
Lindsay flags this as worrisome given geopolitical context.
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Steelmanned Case: Escape Or Defense For Red Team
Steel‑manned case: divorce reduces domestic friction or lets a threatened 'red team' consolidate for defense.
Proponents see it as consent-based self-determination and a refuge against perceived constitutional collapse.
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Fracturing Weakens Constitutional Safeguards
Lindsay warns splitting fractures constitutional protection: two diverging constitutions will weaken the U.S. as a global defender of individual liberties.
He cites recent Supreme Court decisions as evidence the Constitution still matters nationally.
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Jim talks with James Lindsay about the ideas in his recent essay "National Divorce Is National Suicide." They discuss the meaning of a national divorce (where the United States would split into two countries), different shapes it could take, the possibility of parallel experiments in civilization design, statistics on support for the idea, the proposed Belgian split, steelmanning the opposition, reducing the chances of a Civil War, the divide over gun rights & abortion, the Big Sort, why national divorce would be a disaster, how the media would frame a national divorce, bifurcation of constitutional evolution, whether we're in a historically precedented moment, the idea of an attempted silent takeover of the West, fast & slow options for red state development, malice vs incompetence, amount of immigration between the U.S. and Canada, consequences & origins of intersectionality, competence of a blue state, wokery as a religion, what we should do instead of a divorce, fighting for a more constitutionally centered society, a civic revival, the passing of peak woke, and much more.
Episode Transcript
New Discourses
JRS EP73 - James Lindsay on Cynical Theories
"National Divorce Is National Suicide," by James Lindsay
Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America, by John McWhorter
Dr. James Lindsey is an American-born author, mathematician, and political commentator. He has written six books spanning a range of subjects including religion, the philosophy of science and postmodern theory. He is the co-founder of New Discourses.
The Jim Rutt Show 