I was thinking about how the idea of some form of secession of states is always discussed in some really silly right-wing fantasy contexts but has there been any discourse in leftist circles about this? Especially in terms of the completely broken political system.
Otherwise is this a completely stupid idea on its face? Either way I’m just interested to hear about people’s thoughts.
I recently flash-fic’d a balkanization scenario that plays out during Kamala’s presidency, but I think that what will actually happen is just the Federal government continuing to weaken until all it does is enforce American hegemony and print USD. We’ve already seen this process play out to a pretty substantial degree over the past couple of decades - do you think that, in the America of the 80s, a number of states could pass laws in open defiance of the policy of the federal government without consequences? Could Texas take control of its border from Federal agencies in any decade other than the current one? Would the response to COVID by 90s America have been as scattershot and regionalized as it was in 2020?
I think the starting point for this process is most accurately fixed at deregulation under Reagan which allowed for multiple regulatory regimes to emerge in America, one of minimal interference in most of the country and one lead by California and New York that attempts to maintain New Deal/Great Society -esque control of the market’s excesses. The country will continue to “balkanize” in this way, as the Federal government cedes more ground to the market and the wealthiest states make their uncoordinated and sloppy attempts to fill the gaps it leaves, until we find a new point of equilibrium, with large swathes of the country reduced in stature from their previously privileged position and a new, smaller Imperial Core.
Another example of this, maybe less important but still notable, is the defiance of many states over Federal scheduling of cannabis (a C-I drug, therefore “totally illegal”). While the FDA claims jurisdiction over all drugs, probably using the Interstate Commerce Clause (be advised, IANAL), the states have looked at cannabis as a states rights issue. Right now, I think they are avoiding really big legal trouble by using a few loopholes (e.g. MN is deriving its delta-9-THC and other cannabis products from industrial hemp, a fairly inefficient process). Outside of Native American reservations, I’m not sure that any state is actually selling anything like cannabis flower. But it is real defiance on the part of many states, since delta-9-THC and other cannabinoids are the substances which are actually scheduled and regulated by the FDA, and they have really pissed off the Feds with their actions. I don’t think you would have seen this at an earlier time in US history, and it’s an interesting development.
Then there’s the Covid response, or lack of it, mostly thanks to the chuds turning it into another front in the culture war. That’s also one for the history books.