this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2025
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Asklemmy

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[–] scoobford@lemmy.zip 17 points 1 day ago

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.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Sure? Balkanization seems like a good way to speed up the process of the Empire collapsing.

[–] frankyboi@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 hours ago

Balkan are the greatest thing ever.

[–] vfreire85@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 day ago

plus there is the bonus of schadenfreunde, since they always want to balkanize countries that happen to stand in their path.

[–] pleasegoaway@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago

I like the idea of it, but California is a cash cow and the US would never let that cash cow get away.

New England. Maybe with NY, you could have New New.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 day ago

Absolutely

  • Sincerely, someone from the EU
[–] WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

What you are proposing would start a North American war deadlier than any that has ever been seen. Everyone thought Texas was dumb for talking about secession, but now that other states don’t want to be part of the union, people act like it is a serious idea. It isn’t. Never has been.

In the words of Ben Franklin, β€œwe must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

[–] frankyboi@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I'm not American, and I think you should all secede. Just like EU is a shit and quebec should be free.

[–] WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 25 minutes ago

You would have more than half the population of the country plunged into abject poverty. West Virginia would look like an apocalyptic hillbilly hellscape.

[–] psychadlligoat@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Everyone knew Texas talking about it was dumb because they're not self sufficient

California actually is, and if we're hated by the rest of the country anyway, we'll just go ahead and leave. Let the rest states have fun paying for shit without us

Define self sufficient.

California is not self sufficient in my opinion. They may have a lot of money, but they rely heavily on interstate commerce and trade routes for their prosperity. Taxes and cost of living are already high, and those things would explode if cut off from trade. The federal government won’t hesitate to use their leverage to keep other countries from supporting the newly declared independence of California.

Texas is not self sufficient either, but I’m not advocating for their secession.

Put simply, we need fewer borders, not more of them. Any state that thinks they can take their money and run will find themselves brutalized by the federal government, taxed to oblivion by neighboring states, and experiencing an exodus of companies who are based there. It is the path to destruction, not liberation.

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 61 points 2 days ago (7 children)

Californian here, bye Felicia. I'm fucking done with my hard earned money going towards ungrateful backwoods idiots that actively hate me, my state, and my neighbors because they're told to by thuh teevee, yet don't realize it. I'm done subsiding hatred for the sake of it, because "it's the right thing to do." I'm done being at the political whim of people that can't spell potato. I have a lot of heart for my countrymen, but considering far too many of them hate us for reasons they don't even understand, I don't see the point anymore.

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[–] Paradachshund@lemmy.today 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Washingtonian here, I've been saying this should happen for like 8 years now lmao

The marriage isn't working. Let it go.

[–] wolfinthewoods@lemmy.ml 16 points 2 days ago (5 children)

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.

[–] Star@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 2 days ago

Fuck yeah! Cascadia! Let us stop funding this awful government and actually put our taxes towards improving people's lives

[–] invertedspear@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 37 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (6 children)

This throws under the bus the many many non republicans in places gerrymandered such that the minority can continue it's rule. My life would probably get better, but only at their expense as more and more solvent states leave the union. I'm not willing to 'punish' those people for the crime of being born in a impossibly corrupt district.

[–] Zaleramancer@beehaw.org 2 points 1 day ago

I wholeheartedly agree.

[–] Eheran@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Why did democrats not stop the gerrymandering? Why are there so many laws that should not exist still there?

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[–] veganbtw@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I support balkanizing the US

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[–] PTSDwarrior@lemmy.ml 12 points 2 days ago (5 children)

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.

[–] BreakerSwitch@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If having human rights is dependent upon who's in power at the moment, you don't have human rights.

[–] PTSDwarrior@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

Right. Which is why I want to break free from the usual bullshit.

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[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 day ago (12 children)

Do states even have a legal way to secede?

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Didn't have a way to legally secede from Britain

But this time there would be no ocean between the two sides.

[–] Nojustice@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

See: American civil war

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)
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[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

To take this in a different direction, legal or not (considering the "higher power" generally gets to define what is and isn't legal and might do so for its own benefit rather than in the best interest of everyone, if there even is such a thing), how can it be determined if a subset of a power structure breaking away from that power structure is a good thing or bad thing? What arguments other than "we'll use force" are there to support a region needing to remain under the thumb of a power they no longer wish to serve?

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[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] profgrumpypants@midwest.social 27 points 2 days ago (6 children)

No, not really. While I am not white, I am American through and through. I don't really prefer to be something else. I just think we should fix what we can. Preferably while we can.

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[–] AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

As a US citizen and Oregon resident, absolutely.

But I don't honestly foresee it being possible or happening.

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[–] morgan_423@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago

I don't think the population is as hopelessly divided as the social media spaces make it out to be, but at the same time, the federal government looks more and more unrecoverable from corporate interests and back to the people every single day. It's probably past the point of return, excepting major societal shakeup.

It feels like there may come a point where the states that are large enough to be countries on their own start looking into any mechanisms that would allow them separation, just to be able to run themselves without federal interference and incompetence.

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.

[–] charonn0@startrek.website 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Californian. No.

It wouldn't solve any problems that can't be solved by other means, and it would create new problems that we haven't had to worry about before. It'd be a net loss for everyone involved.

[–] quetzaldilla@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

We'd have to spend a fortune on defense.

We'd suffer massive losses from being cut off from interstate trade agreements.

We'd have to deal with massive immigration issues.

We'd probably get our shit pushed in from all the federal military bases within the state.

I think it's waaaay easier to just oust the current leadership and remove all the Congress members that aided and abetted.

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago
[–] Kuori@hexbear.net 19 points 2 days ago

Anything that hastens the death of the U.S. is good by me.

[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (5 children)

Coloradan. Only if a neighboring State does, because if not, we are neighboring other borders and we would be landlocked without food or water imports. Its either all Pacific and Front Range States agree we have to split, or none of us can.

Our most populous cities, Denver and CO Springs, are below the mountains, and are screwed in a combat scenario.

I don't see Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, or Kansas doing so willingly.

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[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

Wouldn't Texas be at the top of the list of states most likely to exit?

[–] BlueCollarRockstar@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Indiana. We'd fail so hard and so fast that I literally cannot imagine it. People are nuts. It'd be instant MAGA-flavored Mad Max if they felt like they had an excuse to preemptively defend themselves with their guns across the countryside.

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[–] Zaleramancer@beehaw.org 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Wouldn't work out. World's too complicated for simple answers like that.

Leaving, even if it would produce a viable nation, would involve leaving a lot of people in the lurch. There's people in conservative states who need the counter balance of blue states to slow down their government's trend to self destruction and fascism.

Even though it's increasingly frustrating with how feeble that resistance is, it does keep things like banning gay marriage in the "difficult to pass" territory and not the "a few compromises" one.

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