IT'S HAPPENING! AMERICA "SPLINTERS" TO COPE WITH CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

For the first time since 1860, groups of US states have started forming regional "pacts" to deal with a crisis, separate from the national Federal level. 

This time, rather than differences over slavery, it is caused by the general threat to the economy caused by the coronavirus outbreak and the different regional responses that this calls for.

Here is how it works as reported by Boston 25 News:

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and other governors released a statement late Monday announcing that Gov. Charlie Baker [Massachusetts] is joining a multi-state council "to restore the economy and get people back to work."

The council will feature one health expert, one economic development expert and the respective chief of staff from each state - New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Rhode Island. According to Murphy's office, this coordinating group "will work together to develop a fully integrated regional framework to gradually lift the states' stay at home orders while minimizing the risk of increased spread of the virus."

"The council will create this framework using every tool available to accomplish the goal of easing social isolation without triggering renewed spread - including testing, contact tracing, treatment and social distancing – and will rely on the best available scientific, statistical, social and economic information to manage and evaluate those tools," Murphy's office said.

Yes, an "integrated regional framework" that uses "every tool available." That sounds a lot like a group of states operating as a state within a state. 

Of course, this is unlikely to lead directly to the long-predicted break-up of the United States, but it sets an interesting precedent that will put secessionist ideas in people's heads -- ideas like the obvious one that the United States is simply too big to directly represent the best interests of each regional and ethnic group, and that smaller units would better serve the interests of the inhabitants.

This is exactly what is being given a trial run here with distinct regions emerging. 

Along with the Multi-State Pact between Democrat-dominated states in the urban North-East and the Western States Pact, Republican-dominated states in the Ohio River region have banded together as well as six Midwestern States.

The interests and priorities of these regions are radically different even at the best of times, but a major crisis like the coronavirus crisis has thrown this into sharp relief.

This is a foretaste of what's to come.

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