Honestly, I’m at the point where I support the full-on dissolution of the United States. There’s just no coming back from this level of decay of political norms and culture. This isn’t going to end without either a peaceful dissolution of the country or a civil war that kills millions of us. I say we just skip the civil war part, grant all 50 states independence, and let the states come back together into whatever new nation or collection of nations they wish to form.
I want to agree, but I’ve spent years and incurred a ton of debt getting credentialed enough to enter a career where you’re licensed state by state and I can’t just transfer my license to another state. I’m in a red state because I really love the area and finally found where I belong, and it just so happens to, unfortunately, be a red state. I would really rather not be thrown to the wolves like that. I’d much prefer a radical restructuring of the existing federal political order aligned with democratic confederalist principles, a very radical kind of Third Founding, especially because my municipality in particular is very blue.
Such a hypothetical president could add some basic terms to their dissolution plan. They would be in a position to organize a treaty between the new nations. And part of the agreement to let states have their independence is that freedom of travel must be preserved between the states, similar to how the EU operates. So people can always vote with their feet and leave.
But if you’re asking if we can preserve the nation just to help blue voters in red states, I’m sorry. Ultimately the people of each state are going to have to be responsible for their own fate. I would owe nothing more to the citizens of Alabama than I do the citizens of Azerbaijan. It’s your country, not mine. You’re responsible for it. If your countrymen want to turn their nation into the seventh circle of Hell, well those are their sins, not ours.
I know it sucks, and it’s not fair to a lot of good people. But the likely alternative is that the city you cherish so much will be burned to ashes in the civil war we are inexorably marching towards. Realize, I do not champion as radical a solution as complete national dissolution lightly. If I didn’t think the alternative was a horrific and bloody war, I wouldn’t think to recommend it.
A second civil war would be so, so much worse than the first one. The destructive technology is so much greater. And we wouldn’t even be divided between two nice clear blocks of North and South. We would have fighting between states and within states. And foreign adversaries will be happy to contribute to help fan the flames even more. At least with the first civil war foreign powers were mostly content to ignore the US; it was a remote backwater at the time. But now? The US is a global hegemon, and we have no shortage of adversaries that would love to see us burn. China and Russia will probably be arming both sides of the conflict, just happy to see us tear each other to pieces. I’m worried about millions of people being killed, tens of millions displaced, most of our greatest cities turned into bombed-out wrecks, and our entire society seeing a massive and permanent decline in our quality of life and standard of living. Look at the images of the leveled cities of Syria. That is our future on the path we are currently on.
We could walk that road, or we could have some maturity and wisdom and say, “look, this nation clearly isn’t working anymore. It was assembled based on compromises for the world of 1780, and it’s no longer working for us.” Instead of tearing ourselves apart violently, let’s just go for a peaceful national divorce. No one needs to die. We don’t have tens of millions made homeless. We don’t have to watch as all the great cities and infrastructure we’ve spent generations building are reduced to bombed-out craters. We can simply walk away with all of our lives, infrastructure, and national wealth intact. Even if the national divorce was a difficult and expensive process, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to what we will lose in the civil war that awaits us.
Part of the agreement to let all states have their independence would be some basic requirements. One of those requirements would likely be that the new states have to allow freedom of movement and migration from the other US states, at the very least for several years after the national divorce. Ideally the president orchestrating this would negotiate some sort of basic EU-style customs and trade union. So the states can set their own laws and national policies, but people can move freely between the various new nations. Hell, most states would likely want this anyway. Does Mississippi really want to trap blue voters in its borders without giving them any relief valve? I would think they would be far happier just maintaining open border deals with the other new states, thus allowing people to simply vote with their feet if they don’t want to stay in Mississippi. The alternative is that you end up having a mini civil war inside the borders of just one state.
Honestly, I’m at the point where I support the full-on dissolution of the United States. There’s just no coming back from this level of decay of political norms and culture. This isn’t going to end without either a peaceful dissolution of the country or a civil war that kills millions of us. I say we just skip the civil war part, grant all 50 states independence, and let the states come back together into whatever new nation or collection of nations they wish to form.
Kind of reminds me of this map from the Unofficial Fallout TTRPG:
Here the 48 contiguous States are divvied up between 13 Commonwealths with Alaska being part of the Northwest and Hawaii being in the Southwest.
lol, this is the kind of political thinking that results from an evening in a parent’s basement zooted on edibles.
It’s the cold sober realism that comes with looking at where we have been, where we are, and where we’re headed. You’re just in denial.
MAGA is a cancer that has metastisized. Its time to lop off the leg so we can save the torso.
Money that would’ve gone towards red states can instead go towards getting people out
I want to agree, but I’ve spent years and incurred a ton of debt getting credentialed enough to enter a career where you’re licensed state by state and I can’t just transfer my license to another state. I’m in a red state because I really love the area and finally found where I belong, and it just so happens to, unfortunately, be a red state. I would really rather not be thrown to the wolves like that. I’d much prefer a radical restructuring of the existing federal political order aligned with democratic confederalist principles, a very radical kind of Third Founding, especially because my municipality in particular is very blue.
Such a hypothetical president could add some basic terms to their dissolution plan. They would be in a position to organize a treaty between the new nations. And part of the agreement to let states have their independence is that freedom of travel must be preserved between the states, similar to how the EU operates. So people can always vote with their feet and leave.
But if you’re asking if we can preserve the nation just to help blue voters in red states, I’m sorry. Ultimately the people of each state are going to have to be responsible for their own fate. I would owe nothing more to the citizens of Alabama than I do the citizens of Azerbaijan. It’s your country, not mine. You’re responsible for it. If your countrymen want to turn their nation into the seventh circle of Hell, well those are their sins, not ours.
I know it sucks, and it’s not fair to a lot of good people. But the likely alternative is that the city you cherish so much will be burned to ashes in the civil war we are inexorably marching towards. Realize, I do not champion as radical a solution as complete national dissolution lightly. If I didn’t think the alternative was a horrific and bloody war, I wouldn’t think to recommend it.
A second civil war would be so, so much worse than the first one. The destructive technology is so much greater. And we wouldn’t even be divided between two nice clear blocks of North and South. We would have fighting between states and within states. And foreign adversaries will be happy to contribute to help fan the flames even more. At least with the first civil war foreign powers were mostly content to ignore the US; it was a remote backwater at the time. But now? The US is a global hegemon, and we have no shortage of adversaries that would love to see us burn. China and Russia will probably be arming both sides of the conflict, just happy to see us tear each other to pieces. I’m worried about millions of people being killed, tens of millions displaced, most of our greatest cities turned into bombed-out wrecks, and our entire society seeing a massive and permanent decline in our quality of life and standard of living. Look at the images of the leveled cities of Syria. That is our future on the path we are currently on.
We could walk that road, or we could have some maturity and wisdom and say, “look, this nation clearly isn’t working anymore. It was assembled based on compromises for the world of 1780, and it’s no longer working for us.” Instead of tearing ourselves apart violently, let’s just go for a peaceful national divorce. No one needs to die. We don’t have tens of millions made homeless. We don’t have to watch as all the great cities and infrastructure we’ve spent generations building are reduced to bombed-out craters. We can simply walk away with all of our lives, infrastructure, and national wealth intact. Even if the national divorce was a difficult and expensive process, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to what we will lose in the civil war that awaits us.
The problem is, red states and blue states are a myth. It’s red country and blue city.
can we get like a 30-day musical chair countdown?
Part of the agreement to let all states have their independence would be some basic requirements. One of those requirements would likely be that the new states have to allow freedom of movement and migration from the other US states, at the very least for several years after the national divorce. Ideally the president orchestrating this would negotiate some sort of basic EU-style customs and trade union. So the states can set their own laws and national policies, but people can move freely between the various new nations. Hell, most states would likely want this anyway. Does Mississippi really want to trap blue voters in its borders without giving them any relief valve? I would think they would be far happier just maintaining open border deals with the other new states, thus allowing people to simply vote with their feet if they don’t want to stay in Mississippi. The alternative is that you end up having a mini civil war inside the borders of just one state.