The lines of battle become more clear

I've written before about how the New America is likely to separate. It's likely to take a few months, maybe a year or two, but you can already see the bifurcation taking place. Wyoming's governor just barred vaccination passports via a "directive," a legal order that may have only temporary effects.

Arizona governor Doug Ducey just signed a law today that labeled gun stores "essential businesses," a designation which should allow them to remain open regardless of what public health-related hysteria is being foisted upon his state's citizens.

“With efforts currently underway in Washington to erode Second Amendment rights, Arizona is taking action to protect those rights,” Ducey said in a statement. “In Arizona, we’re safeguarding manufacturers, sellers, and trade associations.”

While this may be seen as simply some pro-active legislation to protect the United States citizen's right to bear arms, it is more an attempt to weaken the power public health officials currently wield. They have realized they can enact nearly any power or law, no matter how draconian, if the public is sufficiently frightened. Given the amount of free rein people who seek to control and limit our personal freedoms have won over the last year, it is certain that Coronavirus will not be the last pandemic. Others will follow sooner than later and will once again be leveraged to change laws and behaviors without all that pesky voting and debating that goes on in State legislatures.

Florida has officially outlawed vaccine passports, courtesy of Governor Ron Desantis. Other states such as Montana, Idaho, and Georgia have either expressed or proposed legislation that would prohibit discrimination against anyone based on their vaccination status, a concept I'm calling #vaxcrimination. You have to put a hash tag (#) these days in front of any new word you dream up for some reason, otherwise people on social media won't know what's important.

I'm really curious which way my home state, North Carolina, will fall. The current governor is fairly progressive and is likely to pursue vaccination passports. Like many other states, North Carolina has an extremely conservative rural population that is unlikely to go along with it. Whether states can hold together without counties seceding into other neighboring states remains to be seen.

Gun laws and banning critical race theory offer a good indication as to which way a state is going to go, but the use of vaccine passports is likely to be the most important determining factor in how the future United States is divided. Keep an eye on these three things over the next few months to help understand how the map may need to be redrawn.

Update: State legislators in North Carolina have introduced a bill banning critical race theory. There may yet be hope for the Tarheel state.