It's a nice article. It looks like he is searching for something like what I call the Bill of Duties between Americans, as opposed to the Bill of Rights between individuals and the government.
But I don't really see how it's going to work in this America. It's too large and people want different things. Unification happens more easily in smaller countries in which people feel they have something in common.
Nor should America wish to be a beacon. If it stays together, let it just become a place, facing the same problems and trying to find solutions to them. Like every other place out there. Not better. And not worse. Exceptional in the same way any country feels it is. And unexceptional, also, in the sense of wishing to be like and not unlike others.
For me, the thing that is going wrong is the lack of conversation about the possibility of splitting up. If there's something to be had from keeping the marriage going, there ought to be some good reasons why.
My sense is that the long-toothed Constitution just isn't capable of being the glue. I've no problem with red state Americans living as they wish. But imposing it on blue states ain't going to work. Instead, what I see is alternating misery and no way out for either the blues or the reds. Far better to split and give up on unifying what won't mix. Oil and water.
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