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What would secession look like?

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Zebee Johnstone

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Dec 21, 2021, 3:13:28 PM12/21/21
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Up front: I am not American so am speaking from a position of
ignorance.

Reading various things in comments sections (I know, don't read the
comments...) tells me there's a secession movement in Texas and
presumably some appetite for it in states that were in the
Confederacy.

I can't see a single state like Texas having a viable economy on its
own but am I wrong here? Would the requirement to fund border control
and all the bureaucracy of self management plus funding education and
health be too much?

What about multiple states? HOw many contiguous states would need to
secede to have a chance at making a go of it?

My home state of Western Australia has been talking about it on and
off for years (and in fact voted for it once but the Brits and the
Federal govt between them said no) but it would rely entirely on
selling minerals to have any money at all. Agricultural exports would
be 2nd I guess. But given the vast distances everything has to cover
to get anywhere[1] I still can't see it.

How would a New Confederacy generate wealth in today's world? Oil is
very short term, what else is there?

And what would the removal of those states do to the US economically
and politically? Loss of ports, loss of internal travel of people and
goods?

Zebee

[1] It's a big place. Famously Texas is smaller than Western
Australia's 2nd largest electoral district. Texas is still a big
place to move things around in, just WA is way way bigger.

Rich Rostrom

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Dec 21, 2021, 5:22:16 PM12/21/21
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On 12/21/21 2:13 PM, Zebee Johnstone wrote:
> Up front: I am not American so am speaking from a position of
> ignorance.
>
> Reading various things in comments sections (I know, don't read the
> comments...) tells me there's a secession movement in Texas and
> presumably some appetite for it in states that were in the
> Confederacy.

Current discussions of secession have nothing to do with the
Confederacy, nor are such discussion confined to such areas
of the country. A few Left activists in "blue" states proposed
separating from Trump-voting "flyover" country before 2020.

However, all such discussions are very much fringe.

> I can't see a single state like Texas having a viable economy on its
> own but am I wrong here?

Why? Texas is much larger than most sovereign nations. And nothing
woould prevent Texas from trading with other countries. Nearly all
national economies are dependent on foreign trade, i.e. would not
be viable "on their own".

> Would the requirement to fund border control
> and all the bureaucracy of self management plus funding education and
> health be too much?

Compared to the present burden on Texas of federal taxation?

> What about multiple states? HOw many contiguous states would need to
> secede to have a chance at making a go of it?

In what sense? Politically it is a complete non-starter regardless.

--- Nous sommes dans une pot de chambre, et nous y serons emmerdés.
--- General Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot at Sedan, 1870.
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