No. Imagining an independent future for any state (including California and Texas) is pure cope. The states are so interdependent that attempting to secede would be ruinous for the state in question.
The only exceptions I can think of are Alaska and Hawaii, which might be able to survive if they found another country to keep them supplied and economically connected.
Shit’s gonna look like the Holy Roman Empire a decade from now…
New England. Maybe with NY, you could have New New.
CA should be split into two.
Absolutely
- Sincerely, someone from the EU
Yes
Do states even have a legal way to secede?
No but there’s no law against expelling a state from the union. Kind of a reverse secession if you can piss trump off enough for him to actually do it (no law saying that only Congress can expel them, so it would go to the courts).
Didn’t have a way to legally secede from Britain
But this time there would be no ocean between the two sides.
Define “legal”.
Enshined in law, so that state can unilateraly decide to secede and federal govt must accept it.
No. A full breakdown here https://youtu.be/1dhvry6E0jA
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
The Constitution of the US of frickin A
That’s the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence. And for as much as it is a foundational document of the US, it’s also not a legal document.
Sure? Balkanization seems like a good way to speed up the process of the Empire collapsing.
plus there is the bonus of schadenfreunde, since they always want to balkanize countries that happen to stand in their path.
No. We’d be overrun by federal troops and decimated within a week. If we could secede peacefully? We (Wisconsin) would probably need an alliance with Minnesota and Michigan to survive.
If just my state left, and I could leave to another state, that would be pretty good. Two Republican senators gone, roughly 15 net house reps gone, and an influx of dem refugees like me into neighboring states.
Texas could legit try to make a go of it as an independent nation. It would be a disaster for my family though.
If the Union completely dissolved and each state had to function as nation, it would be a massive boom for the oligarchs. They already have more money than most states.
I imagine they’d form blocs, on centred on California obviously, one on the other coast, and a few in between
As a US citizen and Oregon resident, absolutely.
But I don’t honestly foresee it being possible or happening.
My tinfoil hat says they’d try and probably succeed at triggering “The Big One”
Yes. In fact, I’ve decided to take a leap of faith and join the California National Party, which you can all check out here: CNP website. I am sick of the usual Republicans vs Democrats. Everytime one party is in power, we are constantly worrying about the loss of civil and human rights. Lets start with a clean slate. If you are a California resident, at least check out their party platform. Also, in 2026, there will be a gubernatorial candidate for CNP. His name is Sean Forbes.
If having human rights is dependent upon who’s in power at the moment, you don’t have human rights.
Right. Which is why I want to break free from the usual bullshit.
A single party like Mexico’s PRI party isn’t the answer either…
I’m not sure where you got that we only want one party in an independent California? Once CNP successfully fights for independence, then other parties can spring up. For example, in South Africa, the African National Congress were the big fighters against apartheid. No they are just another (corrupt) political party. Another example is the Indian National Congress. Members of that party fought for independence from the UK. Now, its just another political party, and they have not had any sort of power since 2014. CNP would have a place in an independent California. But the future after that, up in the air.
but mexico has got way more parties than pri, so much that most candidates winning elections do so with a broad alliance. in fact since 2000 pri only had a single term.
There are Nations with more than 2 parties
Washingtonian here, I’ve been saying this should happen for like 8 years now lmao
The marriage isn’t working. Let it go.
We have had a name for it for awhile, my fellow Washingtonians call the Washington/Oregon/California union ‘Cascadia’. Wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
If you don’t take AZ and NV with you, you will get your Colorado River water cut off and lose a lot of farming power. That might even require UT. Unless it’s only Northern California included, in which case you still lose that agriculture, and possible land based trade lines to Mexico. It’s not a clean and pretty separation.
That is a problem, but not an intractable one. The first easy win would be to just stop wasting so much water. CA could be a lot more careful with water than it is by just leaning on industry and ag to cut wasteful water use harder than it leans on the suburbs. Don’t get me wrong, green lawns in our Mediterranean climate are a stupid waste too, but it pencils out to less than a percent of all water use, where ag and industry are both in the double digits.
Fuck yeah! Cascadia! Let us stop funding this awful government and actually put our taxes towards improving people’s lives
Absolutely, and I’m about ready to start identifying as that over American 🫠.
I usually think of BC being part of it, too, cause we’re so similar culturally, and we hang out on each other’s side of the made up invisible line all the time.
One can dream!
It would have a hell of a lot of economic power, and natural resources.
Sounds like the kind of place the US would invade
I support balkanizing the US
It worked wonderfully for the actual Balkans and the Caucasus region
