Afrasianet - Dr. Ayman Samir - The United States of America is living a state of division and political and partisan fragmentation, not seen since the end of the American Civil War 1866, and there are those who say in Washington that the demands of some states, such as Texas, which seeks to control the border away from the federal government, are not much different from the demands that the southern states sought to achieve after the election of the sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and these demands eventually led to the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, which Some 620,000 Americans were killed, and the current debate among American political elites is similar to the controversy and "uncertainty" that prevailed between the North and the South over the "issue of slavery" in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Colorado's announcement last month that it would not allow former President Donald Trump to participate in the presidential elections that will be held on its soil has reinforced political division, and the idea of national unity has diminished, and the position of Colorado Secretary of State, Gina Griswold, has increased the reaction of Republican-ruled states, who have threatened to prevent President Joe Biden's participation in this year's elections in their states, if Democrats stick to preventing the former president's candidacy in Democratic-dominated states.

Anyone who observes and analyzes the behavior and voting of the two parties, Republican and Democratic, in the House of Representatives and the Senate, over the last three years, will be sure that it is a vote on a "partisan basis", not on "national principles or interests", for example, all 221 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to "try" incumbent President Joe Biden, and seek his impeachment, while the entire 212  Democrats voted against impeaching Biden.

Not only that, the movements and organizations that call for the independence of some states are broadcasting their propaganda and calls for independence publicly, in the states of the West Coast, especially the vast state of California, where there are a number of political movements demanding separation and independence from the United States, so will the United States disintegrate, as its opponents and competitors wish? Or is all that the United States is witnessing is intellectual richness and political diversity, which is not feared for the country, which has been the world's number one economy since 1870 until now?

First: "Political Selfishness"

There is agreement among the majority of Americans about the absence of "political superiority" among the political and economic elite in the current era, and this was manifested in the absence of "common spaces" between the two major parties, Democrats and Republicans, and increased talk about real opportunities for the "third candidate" in the elections on Tuesday, November 5, "zero calculations" have become the big title of bipartisan politics, Republican and Democratic, Republicans, led by former President Donald Trump, want to return to building and completing the separation wall with Mexico, a trend supported by the United States. Which has borders with Mexico, such as New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and others, while the "liberal bloc in the Democratic Party" led by prominent figures, such as Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Chris Murphy, reject Republican measures to prevent the arrival of Latin American refugees to American soil, but the scrutiny of the positions of the two parties, makes sure that they stem from narrow partisan interests, as the majority of blacks and people of color vote for Democrats, hence the Democratic Party's keenness to attract the largest number of Latin American immigrants, and in an issue such as »Trump strongly defends personal gun unions, considering access to guns a constitutional right, but on the other hand, Democrats accuse Trump of supporting "killers" because of many incidents in which unprecedented numbers of Americans were killed, which pushes the Democratic Party to work to restrict access to weapons, especially the so-called "hidden weapon" produced by small workshops, and without serial numbers that the police can track.

Second: The decline in federal values

Many polls have said that the unity that brought Americans together, before and after independence, no longer exists, and that Americans are missing the spirit that prevailed under the seven founding fathers: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, George Washington, and the best witness to the decline of faith in federalism and the spread of nationalist ideas in the states, what happened in Texas the first week of this year, when Texas took control of part of the state's "federal borders", where it does not trust The state government with federal forces to prevent immigrants, and the Texas government prevented agents of the Federal Border Service from reaching the Mexican border, which led to a confrontation in the border town of Eagle Pass, near the Rio Grande River, through which illegal immigrants cross, an incident that has not been repeated in about 150 years, and the repetition of this incident would cause armed confrontations between Texas forces, and federal forces, a confrontation that is not far from the point of view of many Americans, in light of what they know previously, from The positions of Texas Governor Greg Abbott against federal forces and officials, whose political project is based on restoring the rights of the states, and further limiting the authority of the federal government, which constitutes a "public rebellion" similar to the rebellion of the state of "South Carolina", and its withdrawal from the American Union and its independence to be the first state to withdraw, then 6 other southern states followed, and announced in 1861 the formation of the Confederate American states, where the southern states supported slavery, while the northern state demanded its abolition.

Third: Increasing separatist sentiment

Since the November 2016 election, which former President Donald Trump won, many states have sought independence from Washington, D.C., and from the policies of the White House, and during the Corona pandemic, 3 large states on the west coast of the United States announced that they were taking measures related to combating the Corona epidemic away from the steps announced by Trump, at that time, as 3 states, Washington, California and Oregon, announced the "Charter of the Three Western States", which at the time stipulated coordination between the states of The reason for this new union is the lack of confidence of the three states in the federal procedures of the US government in dealing with Corona, but the most dangerous thing stated in this decision, the statement issued by the three western states, described this unprecedented step as a "new understanding" of federalism in the United States, which confirms that these states seek to interpret the US Constitution in a different way from the way they link the states to each other, which means that they reject the current US Constitution.

Not only that, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, whose state has the largest percentage of representation in the electoral college (59 votes), called for treating California as a "nation-state", based on the fact that California is the richest US state, and its national product exceeds $ 2.5 trillion, and in 2017 a poll was conducted to find out the extent to which Californians agree to separate from the United States, and 33% approved of secession, but there are those who say that the divisions have deepened further, especially since the state is democratic par excellence, In the sense that it votes for Democrats, and is often the reason why any Democratic president wins, and it is even more dangerous for American unity that members of the "Yes California" movement seek a "new referendum" on the secession of the state from the United States, and members of the "Yes California" say that supporters of California independence number more than 50 percent at the moment.

Fourth: "Nationalism in the East"

Separatism and nationalism do not stop at the states of the American West and the West Coast, but the states of the East and the Atlantic coast suffer from nationalist desires, for example, what is happening in the states of Maryland, Maine and New York, which were looking for a special approach for them under former President Donald Trump, and with all the indications that Trump will get the Republican Party ticket in the next presidential election, these states are very anticipating the possibility of Trump returning again to the White House in 20 January 2025, and these Democratic states are beginning to think the next day if Trump wins the presidential election on November 5.

Fifth: The State of Militias

The United States is the largest country in the world that includes militias, which are militias organized and created by law before and after independence, the latest of which is the law of 1903, which regulates the formation and work of militias in each state, and determines the difference between militias, official and unofficial, and although these militias aim to protect the state, but the weapon it possesses is one of the means of dismantling the United States, the militias affiliated with the state of Texas are the ones that prevented federal forces from controlling part of the Mexican-American border, and although these militias It used to operate at the state, city, or even village level, but recently there is a type of militia at the U.S. national level, and among the large and far-right militias is the Boogaloo militia.

Boogaloo Movement, which was founded in 2012 as an extremist militia, and surfaced in 2019 as a reaction to the American and global interest in black rights, after the killing of black citizen George Floyd, at the hands of the police, and the Boogaloo movement defends the police, and accuses blacks and people of color with racist accusations, and the Boogaloo movement supports policies such as gun rights, and its members believe in white supremacy, and some of them seek to ignite a civil war against black people, and other non-white minorities, and other militias are spread in the United States. As «Oath Keepers»

Oath Keepers, one of the large militias, which number more than 35,000 members, and they say that their slogan is to "protect the constitution" by all armed means, and it is a very extreme movement against black, Asian, and Latino minorities, and these militias played a major role in spreading chaos in Missouri, in 2014 and 2015, during the unrest in the city at that period, and members of these militias always appear with semi-automatic rifles in street patrols, and these militias threatened to ignite a new civil war in 2019, The militias warned the governor of Oregon against approving a new law that would limit carbon dioxide emissions, because this law, if passed, would have harmed the work of a number of militia members, as recently appeared militias calling themselves the "3 percent" movement.

Three Percenters  The danger lies in the meaning of the name of these militias, whose name derives from the disputed claim that only 3% of Americans took up arms against Great Britain during the War of Independence.

It is a claim that reduces the number of people who resisted British rule, and the movement believes in the ability of citizens volunteering with ordinary weapons to successfully resist the United States army, in time of need, and these militias defend the right to own weapons, and resist federal government interference in the local affairs of the states, and can not ignore the «black militias» that defend blacks, and gained great momentum after the killing of George Floyd, and this movement includes great military experience, from officers who worked in the US army and police, and these militias are the fourth largest Smaller militias such as Freedom Warriors, which defend blacks and people of color, were formed in response to the killing of George Floyd, and make money protecting shops and businesses during violent demonstrations sweeping American cities, especially in restive cities like Minneapolis.

Sixth: The State of Personal Arms

The United States has the largest number of personal weapons in the world, where there are 120 rifles per 100 American citizens, and this is the largest rate of personal gun ownership in the world, as the United States, which has a population of no more than 350 million people, about 393 million weapons, out of 857 million individual weapons in the world, and in 2018 the United States alone, produced 9 million firearms, and as a result of all that, the death rate with personal weapons reached record rates It was 8 times higher than the nearest country, Canada.