I posted this mostly to get the phrase "Soft Secession" into the
HN search index. But it seems to me red and blue camps could
have some beefs with federal over-reach. It's interesting to
note there are several places where individual states deal
directly with each other without going through the federal
government. I'm thinking mostly of how Uniform Commercial Code
is coordinated between states (spoiler alert: it's not through
the US congress.)
I do sort of wonder if we're headed for a Soviet-esque conscious
decoupling of the union. It seems you could probably do so
officially and mostly non-violently if 75% of the state
legislatures voted to dissolve the union. Not that I'm
recommending such a thing. Times are hard, but the uncertainty
of having to reconstruct polities after the end of the union
seems... risky. I can easily imagine a post-union world where
The Empire of San Francisco slaps tariffs on hoodies
manufactured in the Berkeley Free State. I don't live in
Florida, so I guess I'm okay with them declaring themselves a
constitutional monarchy run by the Trump family. But I'm not
sure I would want to visit.
It has always seemed to me the political union is a venue which
requires you to step outside yourself to find what's possible
among a large group of people, each with their own agenda.
People often make the mistake of thinking states like California
or Texas are political mono-cultures (they're not.) But I think
every place would get a little more extreme if they were
unmoored from their political rivals.
Anyway... this article on "soft secession" is interesting and
unrelated to the Silverberg-esque fantasy I am relating in this
comment.