for The Hill
 

A new spirit of secession is fracturing our country. Republicans are carving out a red-state confederacy where they can impose their own laws and social mores in defiance of national majorities. 

To take the most obvious example, Americans strongly oppose abortion bans. That hasn’t stopped 21 Republican-controlled states from passing laws outlawing or severely restricting abortion.    

Now red states are applying this twist on John Calhoun’s doctrine of states’ rights and concurrent majorities to education.