Every time I read one of your articles, I want to disagree with you.

I don't, at all, and I too pretty much see it as inevitable that we will break up into smaller polities. Part of me wants that.

But at what cost? That's the part I fear. If it could be so simple as just agreeing to do it, let those who want to live under the lash go under the lash and those that actually want democracy go form one...

That would be marvelous.

You're a far more educated man than I am, so I have to ask. In your studies, have you ever seen an Empire end that way?

In my admittedly limited studies, it seems to more often than not end in violent dissolution and generational warfare.