Historian Victor Davis Hanson writes about the split that occurred in the Roman Empire, peacefully becoming eventually two separate countries, one headquartered in Rome that, a little over 100 years later, fell apart. The other headquartered in Constantinople that lasted almost another 1000 years before being overrun by the Ottoman Turks.
Hanson then imagines red and blue America doing a similar split. He observes that the factors which enabled the Byzantines to last so long are similar to characteristics of red America, whereas blue America more nearly resembles the Roman half along these same dimensions. It is an interesting speculation and VDH writes it well.
