I can’t figure out when independence is a good thing and when it’s a bad thing without a playbook, and I don’t have a playbook.
Our independence; the United States of America declaring independence from the British Empire; that was a good thing. We were a population with common interests wanting to break free from a system that didn’t work to our benefit. We revel in our independence and celebrate it every year.
Independence for the Catalonian region of Spain? That’s different. It’s not a good thing. Independence for the Kurds in Iraq? No bueno. We declared our independence then fought a war to secure it. These are populations trying to separate by peaceful democratic means, but both the referendums have been declared illegal in their home countries. Do you have to fight a war to prove you really mean it?
I’m sure glad it was a good idea for the U.S. to declare independence, and we did. Separation might be inconvenient for the mother country, and I suspect it was for England when the colonies left, but I don’t understand why it is a bad idea for other states or regions to do the same thing it was a good idea for us to do.
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