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Long before there was such a thing as social media, political ideas could go viral.

The American and French revolutions. The revolts of 1848. The rise of communism. The fracturing of the Soviet bloc. The Arab Spring. Fads don't just apply to fashion.

This year's political rave is separation. There was a run at it two years ago when Scotland voted on whether to break away from the United Kingdom. That fell short, but may be revived in the wake of the successful "Brexit" referendum.

That's the one where the old people who wanted Great Britain to exit the European Union and regain their idea of sovereignty — the kind that led to two world wars — barely outvoted the young people who very much treasured their freedom to move, work and invest throughout the continent.

Scotland and Northern Ireland, though, voted to stick with the EU. Thus might Scottish independence be an issue again soon, so the Scots can rejoin the EU on their own.

And, more of a shock, Northern Ireland might put hard economic benefits ahead of hundreds of years of religious hostility and rejoin the Republic of Ireland, a satisfied EU member.

If, that is, there is still an EU to join. The right-wing parties in France are talking up their own secession and other nations may follow suit.

Still, though, the mind races.

Already the term Deserexit — or, in twitterese, #Deserexit — has hit the internet, promoted by personages as varied as Tribune cartoonist Pat Bagley and New York Times conservative columnist Ross Douthat.

So far, it's little more than a hashtag. But, fleshed out, here's how it might work:

The state of Utah, fed up with federal ownership of all that land, fear of gun regulations, gay marriage and the unholy idea that people deserve health care, breaks away from the United States and becomes the nation of Deseret. But Salt Lake City and, maybe, Park City pull a Scotland and secede from Deseret so they can remain in the Union.

After I tweeted something to that effect last week, a handful of responses suggesting support were followed by expressions of concern. Don't, they said, leave the national parks behind. And, said someone in Moab, what about us?

This gets complicated really fast. It's less like American independence than the awkward and bloody partition of India and Pakistan. Which they are still fighting over.

A cleaner option might be Texit. The idea that Texas, which once was an independent nation, could be one again. And this time voice in the back of everyone's head that said, "Why didn't we just let the backward, racist south secede in 1861?" might carry the day.

As has been noted elsewhere, a U.S. that didn't have to mess with Texas would instantly become more liberal, less weighed down by senators who deny climate change and school boards that order textbooks that ignore slavery and credit Jesus for the Declaration of Independence.

When the Confederacy did break away, Abraham Lincoln convinced the remaining members of Congress to do such noble populist things as the Homestead Act, Land Grant Colleges and the Transcontinental Railroad, stuff that senators from the slaveholding, feudal South would never have approved.

Thus the charm of letting disaffected territories spin themselves off, so that both the parent jurisdiction and the separatist territory can do what they want, unfettered by the other.

Except, if Lincoln had let the South go, who would have freed the slaves? There are still Hindus in Pakistan, Muslims in India, Republicans in Salt Lake City, Democrats in Provo and national parks in San Juan County.

And as attractive as a future in the People's Republic of Salt Lake City — universal health care, no guns and all the real beer I can drink — may sound, the possibility of further fracturing is a big problem.

Like the young professionals of London who fear their loss of access to Paris and Prague, I know what it's like to be able to pick up and move from Kansas to Utah to New York and back to Utah again without any need for a passport, visa or work permit.

That's freedom. And it's well worth putting up with the burden of sharing a nation with Utah County and the Alabama Supreme Court in order to have it.

George Pyle, a Tribune editorial writer, is still steamed that he didn't get that job in Calgary because he couldn't prove he could do it better than anyone in Canada. gpyle@sltrib.com