Midcontinent Rift System
Midcontinent Rift System
[A map of North America shows the Midcontinent Rift System as a red line curving through the Great Lakes and down through the midwestern United States.] 1.1 billion years ago, the North American continent began to split in half.
[Black Hat stands at a lectern with a "Vote 2020" sign on it. He gestures to an image of the globe with a giant crowbar inserted in the rift with an arrow indicating applying pressure to widen the rift.] Black Hat: We don’t know why it stopped.  If elected, I vow to finish the job.  Thank you.
[Ponytail, Black Hat, Megan, and Cueball walk to the right away from a set of stairs. Cueball is looking at a phone and Ponytail is looking at a device or paper with writing on it.] Ponytail: Great job up there. Black Hat: Thanks!  How are my polling numbers? Ponytail: Well, I’m seeing some weakness in the Midwest. Black Hat: So am I.  So am I.

Recently, USA politics has caused polarization of the public. [1] It is said to be “split” in two camps (liberal, mostly loyal to the Democratic Party , and conservative, mostly loyal to the Republican Party ). Here Black Hat is trying to get elected to some sort of federal office in the at the time upcoming 2020 elections by promising he will actually split America in two. His presentation illustrates, using a giant crowbar, the completion of the Midcontinent Rift , which is a large crack that started to form about 1.1 billion years ago, but failed to completely sever the continent. Around the same time, the rift was also mentioned in "How To", Chapter 9: How to build a lava moat.
It is unclear why anyone would vote for such a thing, but people directly affected (the Midwest) are likely to vote against Black Hat . While Black Hat and his campaign advisor Ponytail speak of weakness in the Midwest, they are talking about two different things: Black Hat refers to the physical weakness of the North American Plate in the Midwest due to the geological rift which he thinks could be exploited by a large enough crowbar, while Ponytail is referring to a political weakness for Black Hat’s campaign in the Midwest due to the likely-unpopular proposal (different regions of the US have different voters and populations who have different priorities and stances, so candidates and their campaigns’ platforms will likely be more popular in some regions and less popular in others).  In this case a successful or attempted completion of the rift would likely result in the destruction of millions of houses, buildings, and other man-made structures, not to mention the deaths of many humans (if proper evacuation were not fully implemented and enforced) as well as millions of animals that could not be evacuated.  The proposal would also cause huge economic impacts; the Midwest produces a significant proportion of America’s food supplies and hosts important economic centres, such as Chicago and Cleveland.  So the popularity among those directly or even indirectly affected is likely quite low.  The successful passing of a highly destructive measure such as this would generally involve more direct and overwhelming compensation of the many interests that would otherwise be harmed, to incentivize them to vote against their present livelihood.
The title text is a pun. A wedge issue is a controversial issue which splits apart a demographic group. It is often introduced to create controversy within an opponent’s base so that if the opponent takes any position on the issue, half the voters will desert the opponent. Here the joke is that the “wedge issue” is an actual wedge to split apart the United States. It could potentially be a wedge issue, as while most people would oppose such a measure, some people could be convinced that it would benefit certain Midwestern cities by making them port cities, which would result in an economic boom and make trade easier if those cities weren't destroyed. Also, some die-hard liberals living outside the Midwest might favor the destruction of the Midwest because it tends to vote conservative. Ponytail seems to state that Black Hat's proposal is only unpopular in the Midwest.
[A map of North America shows the Midcontinent Rift System as a red line curving through the Great Lakes and down through the midwestern United States.] 1.1 billion years ago, the North American continent began to split in half.
[Black Hat stands at a lectern with a "Vote 2020" sign on it. He gestures to an image of the globe with a giant crowbar inserted in the rift with an arrow indicating applying pressure to widen the rift.] Black Hat: We don’t know why it stopped.  If elected, I vow to finish the job.  Thank you.
[Ponytail, Black Hat, Megan, and Cueball walk to the right away from a set of stairs. Cueball is looking at a phone and Ponytail is looking at a device or paper with writing on it.] Ponytail: Great job up there. Black Hat: Thanks!  How are my polling numbers? Ponytail: Well, I’m seeing some weakness in the Midwest. Black Hat: So am I.  So am I.
