The recent referendum on Scottish independence in the U.K. threatened to set a precedent of regions breaking away from their mother countries to go off on their own. The Washington Post reported that eight places in Europe have burgeoning independence movements, including Catalonia in Spain, Venice in Italy and Denmark’s Faroe Islands.

But then there’s the United States.

Thankfully, there’s been no notable secession movement in this country since the days of the Civil War, but a recent poll from Reuters/Ipsos indicates that this might be changing. The poll found that 23.9 percent of those questioned favored the idea of their state leaving the Union. That's nowhere near enough to actually make it happen, but the idea that nearly one in four Americans may not want to be Americans anymore ought to give all of us pause.

In a nation as evenly divided as America has been for the past few decades, it’s not unusual to hear some longing for secession from those on the losing side in political disputes. But for the most part, such things are disgruntled murmurs that fade after the initial sting of defeat has worn off. The vast majority of both Republicans and Democrats recognize that what unites us as a nation is much more powerful and important than what divides us.

But not everyone seems to feel that way.

Of course, it’s likely that many of those who favored secession in the poll might have second thoughts if such a thing were being actively considered. But it’s still troubling to think that many of our fellow citizens have become so worn down by government ineffectiveness and/or corruption that they think secession is the only way out. There’s no denying that the concept of a fresh start is enticing to many, but the challenges that America faces won’t vanish because someone draws a new border.

Secessionists, if they got their way, would likely discover that the same things that frustrated them about the country they left behind would follow them to their new country, except they wouldn’t have all of the resources of the entire United States at their disposal to help solve them.

Secession, then, is little more than an idle fantasy that is a distraction from the real-world challenges this country faces. For most Americans, working to advance causes that they believe in, even when their political party is out of power, is a better approach than trying to take your ball and go home.