A number of states have petitions circulating within them to succeed from the United States of America. The petitions have been greeted with some great humor and a lot of 'don't let the door hit you in the ass' rhetoric. While the odds are slim of any state that will leave the Union in the near future, we should not ever take some talk casually.
America has paid a heavy price to keep this one nation. An estimated 750,000 American lives were loss in the American Civil War. If that number was calibrated for today's population, it means that 6,500,000 Americans would lose their lives in a civil war. To put it in perspective we loss more soldiers in the Civil War then all of our wars combined from the Revolutionary War to Afghanistan.
In reality, Americans have been in a closely and bitterly fought ideological civil war for at least the last twelve years. The nation has been almost evenly divided about our values and principles with each side holding their heads held high with righteousness. For me the battle has been one of a choice between democracy or a version of a theocracy. Year after year we see almost the same red states and blues states. Then there are the four or five swing states that determine our future.
Has the world changed so much that the concept of a United States of America doesn't have the power that cause so much blood to spill in our civil war? Is the world a smaller place because of technology? Will super nations in a fast moving world struggle to survive as interests inside of them seek some sort of solace in smaller governing units?
The real question is would you give your life in order to preserve one nation and stop any state from every succeeding? Think about it.