An independent California could still work if the state government mostly abandons LA and transfers population to the less desert-y north (I don’t think they’re willing or able to do this)
California is not a very unified state. If CA were to leave the union, NorCal and SoCal would be a moderate challenge to keep integrated, and you would very rapidly see the Central Valley coming up with a motion to break from California, à la West Virginia.
It’s one of at least 5 states that are straining at the seams and would rip open if the right crisis came about.
CA, WA, and IL each have very strong and active secessionist sentiments in the more inland parts of the state. Technically and notoriously, OR does too, but the population east of the Cascades is maybe 1/8 of the state’s total population- in other terms, substantially less than the population of Wyoming.
Most of VA has a massive resentment towards the “[people] north of Richmond”, and that feeling is very much mutual. PA has large cultural, economic, and geographic barriers between east and west, and while I don’t know of people that actively want it to split, in case of national restructuring I have a hard time seeing the state retain its present boundaries.
There are also states like FL, TX, LA, and NY that have vocally diverse sub-state identities, but I don’t see those being out of alignment enough to shake up state boundaries. Not very easily, at least.
east washington and oregon have some “greater idaho” nazis, confederate illinois hates chicago more than they like money. Republic of New Afrika probably isn’t popular enough an idea to come back but maybe something like that would be a thing again if we’re collapsing. Texas could probably split up more after a while, but pretty much the whole country is on some urban/rural shit and there’d probably be separatist counties anywhere you have rural areas next to a red state and far from their liberal capital like western minnesota.
people in the US identify with the country way more than state or region for the most part unlike the group divisions in a Yugoslavia or anywhere with colonial straight line borders so it’s hard to have any confidence in how it would break down.
An independent California could still work if the state government mostly abandons LA and transfers population to the less desert-y north (I don’t think they’re willing or able to do this)
California is not a very unified state. If CA were to leave the union, NorCal and SoCal would be a moderate challenge to keep integrated, and you would very rapidly see the Central Valley coming up with a motion to break from California, à la West Virginia.
It’s one of at least 5 states that are straining at the seams and would rip open if the right crisis came about.
Can you point out the 5 for us?
CA, WA, and IL each have very strong and active secessionist sentiments in the more inland parts of the state. Technically and notoriously, OR does too, but the population east of the Cascades is maybe 1/8 of the state’s total population- in other terms, substantially less than the population of Wyoming.
Most of VA has a massive resentment towards the “[people] north of Richmond”, and that feeling is very much mutual. PA has large cultural, economic, and geographic barriers between east and west, and while I don’t know of people that actively want it to split, in case of national restructuring I have a hard time seeing the state retain its present boundaries.
There are also states like FL, TX, LA, and NY that have vocally diverse sub-state identities, but I don’t see those being out of alignment enough to shake up state boundaries. Not very easily, at least.
east washington and oregon have some “greater idaho” nazis, confederate illinois hates chicago more than they like money. Republic of New Afrika probably isn’t popular enough an idea to come back but maybe something like that would be a thing again if we’re collapsing. Texas could probably split up more after a while, but pretty much the whole country is on some urban/rural shit and there’d probably be separatist counties anywhere you have rural areas next to a red state and far from their liberal capital like western minnesota.
people in the US identify with the country way more than state or region for the most part unlike the group divisions in a Yugoslavia or anywhere with colonial straight line borders so it’s hard to have any confidence in how it would break down.
In California and Oregon it’s called Jefferson State. Basically a bunch of chud libertarians want to make a very poor 51st state.