The Disunited States

It’s not possible for federalist countries to have uniform criteria. What works in one state does not necessarily work in other states. But while some states are looking forward, others cling to the past.

No one knows for sure who coined the name “United States,” but a rigorous look at reality reveals that the concept of unity implied by the name does not always materialize. Disunion flourishes not only in Congress, where Democrats and Republicans can rarely reach agreement, but also in the rocky relations between the executive branch and the House of Representatives.

The U.S. is a country where federalism is sacred and the states supposedly form a union — but it is at the state level where the divisions and differences are most visible. State laws are a faithful reflection of the prevailing attitudes among the majority of voters.

While he was preparing a radio program with my son, Sergio C. Muñoz, political analyst David Ayón reminded me that California is ahead of other states on topics related to immigration policy, gun control, environmental regulations, stem cell research and marriage equality.

In Arizona, the state legislature has passed xenophobic laws that promote discrimination against people who look like they might be undocumented aliens; in Alabama, undocumented aliens cannot apply for jobs, rent rooms or go to school. But in California, undocumented workers comprise two-thirds of the agricultural industry’s labor force, undocumented students can attend state universities, and beginning in 2015, people can apply for a driver’s license independent of their immigration status.

In terms of gun control, California has the strictest laws in the entire country. Interestingly, eight of the 10 states with the weakest gun laws, including Louisiana, Arizona, Mississippi, Montana and Oklahoma, are among the 25 states with the highest levels of gun violence. At 20 deaths per 100,000 people, Alaska’s homicide rate linked to guns is twice the national average.

California is also ahead of many other states when it comes to passing environmental protection legislation and respecting the right to choose a partner irrespective of a couple’s sexual orientation as heterosexual, homosexual or lesbian.

It is not an exaggeration to say that in California, a forward-looking state, tolerance has become a virtue. Many other states in the U.S. are trying to return to the past, when spitefulness, resentment, discrimination, racism and intolerance reigned.

At the University of Mississippi campus, just a few yards from a statue honoring Confederate soldiers, stands a statue of the university’s first African-American student. James Meredith enrolled in the university in 1962, at a time when campus unrest left two students dead.

A few days ago, as morning came to the campus, Meredith’s statue was found with a noose around its neck and draped with the state of Georgia’s Confederate-style flag. A contractor told police that the previous night he heard some men shouting racist insults near the statue. An editorial in the university’s student newspaper said that such events are repeated time and again, citing as examples the racism that flourished in 2012 after Obama was elected and the explosion of homophobia during a theater production about the death of a gay student from Wyoming.

While chatting with me about these issues, my daughter Lorenza said that disunion in the U.S. is real. She has always understood that “union” is aspirational and, like all processes, has its ups and downs here and across the globe. I agree with her. But I would love it if the rest of the country were more like California.