It is interesting that he did not include the threatened secession of New England Federalists in the Hartford Convention of 1814. They had felt dominated by Virginia and the country was in the midst of a war that was disasterous for their economic system.

One way out of our current dilemma is a strengthened Federalism where more power devolves to states and groups of states. There are signs of this happening with the response of Northeastern states to Covid.

The crucial question is whether the political center will hold. If current projections hold and Biden wins by a significant margin that will be a sign of a renewed center. The real question is whether our current two party system will survive. We could end up with three basic parties. The remaining Trump supporters in active resistance, the Romney Republicans aligned with Moderate Democrats, and then the Bernie supporters on the Left. The Center broke in 1860. If it breaks now then we will be in enormous trouble.