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Unpopular opinions: 1) The South has never fully recovered from the Civil War, 2) The physical fighting stopped but the Civil War never actually ended, 3) We need to seriously look at a peaceful secession before actual war breaks out after a 160 year lull.
Reasons for #1: Look at the top 10 states for poverty in the U.S. 7/10, 8/10 if you count West Virginia, are in the South. No state that was a border state or a Union state struggles with such levels of poverty.
Why? Northern infrastructure was in place before the war started. The Southern economy was built on slave labor. Doesn't make it right but that's what it was. The little infrastructure that the South had was destroyed by Union forces. The North faced no such loss.
The economic and human loss was such a devastating blow. The North lost more men in the war but they also had many more that they could lose. The South's population wasn't nearly as dense as the North's. 8/10 most populous states at the 1860 census were Northern or border states.
When the war was over there was literally nothing but burned homes, destroyed farms, and leveled factories to come back to. Many of the men were maimed physically and mentally.
The South has not fully recovered from that and resentments of people that live in the rest of the country for the South, and vice versa, is still very much alive. (See examples of comedy sketches with exaggerated Southern accents and actors with missing teeth.)
People will point to cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, New Orleans, etc as proof that the South has recovered. These cities may be in the South but they do not accurately represent the population that makes up most of all the Southern states.
Reasons for #2: There may have been a ceasefire but the war never actually ended. The South was the hotbed of all things social from the late 1800s through the civil rights era. The physical battles, most of which were held in Southern territory, morphed into social battles.
The Southern United States was the target of the Union's ire from 1860-1970ish in more ways than one. It still the object of scorn. The rest of America is embarrassed by the South and the South is embarrassed by the rest of the country. Which brings me to my final point.
Reasons for #3: This nation has grown too large and too diverse to be governed effectively by a central government and its people remain free. It works in China because of the heavy hand of the government. I don't think anyone in America really wants that.
The regions in this country are extremely different from one another. The Northeast is radically different from the Pacific Southwest. The mid-Atlantic region is radically different from the Midwest. The South is entirely different from the Pacific Northwest.
We are in a stalemate of fighting but we are all pulling the idea of America into very different directions. It's only a matter of time before things erupt into violence on a massive scale. A peaceful secession can be negotiated to allow each region to go the direction it wants.
It can also negotiate ways that the regions can work together. I believe this was the goal of the founders when they established a union of sovereign states. I don't believe that they would like what they see from modern America.
Yes, secession talk is scary. Yes, there would be a lot of hurdles to jump through. If it can be done effectively we can avoid loss of life and property. Another civil war guarantees widespread death, poverty, and more resentment for the winner. Do we want that?
