Re:Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
by hinkley on Wednesday July 20, 2022 @04:24PM
(#32171768)
I haven't heard much talk of Californians dreaming of becoming independent, but maybe I'm traveling in the wrong circles. What I have heard is people talking smack about kicking California out, and taking 10% of the US GDP with it. Which would be dumb for the rest of us.
Re:Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
by antonymy on Wednesday July 20, 2022 @04:57PM
(#32172223)
It's an attitude I've encountered with some Californians. I wouldn't call it a common one, since most Californians seem to be aware of their dependence on their neighbors for energy and water. But as for "kicking out" California, I'm not sure any such mechanism even exists in the Constitution. While the USA might not be a proper federation of states anymore, vestigial bits of the federation still exist, particularly when it comes to representation and self determination of states.
If a civil war or rebellion did break out I don't think it'd happen along state lines. The kind of power the states now wield actually depends on the existence of the union, so I don't see them wanting to destroy that relationship.
Re:Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
by conradev on Wednesday July 20, 2022 @04:33PM
(#32171897)
There is this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_(proposed_Pacific_...
but they want to secede from existing states, not from the union
Re:Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
by throwaway0a5e on Thursday July 21, 2022 @06:39AM
(#32177736)
The fact that all of the different economic regions in CA have to answer to one shitty state government is absolutely mind boggling. Imaging the Boston-DC corridor being one state and how dysfunctional that would be.
Re:Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
by weaksauce on Wednesday July 20, 2022 @09:41PM
(#32174779)
california has the 6th largest gdp in the world... ahead of every country save 5(that's including the US). California is a juggernaut and just saying that it would be taking 10% of the US GDP is underselling it.
Re:Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
by yucky on Wednesday July 20, 2022 @10:53PM
(#32175231)
They wouldn't survive very long without water. You can't drink GDP.
Re:Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
by weaksauce on Thursday July 21, 2022 @03:31AM
(#32176747)
what do you think desalination plants would do?
Re:Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
by sickofparadox on Thursday July 21, 2022 @09:37AM
(#32179213)
Probably not much, since California routinely can't even import enough electricity to power itself now.
Re:Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
by yencabulator on Wednesday July 20, 2022 @07:29PM
(#32173786)
You do realize countries routinely buy electricity from other countries? Just because there's a country border doesn't mean trade can't flow over it.
Now, of course, if you were at war, such dependency would hurt, for sure. But on the long term, country borders don't mean that much to capitalism.
For all its touted net-contribution to the federal budget California would not survive on its own, as it depends on electricity from other states and water from the Colorado River (a shared resource between several states). To be sure, California puts these shared resources to extremely productive use and pays back the value to its neighbors, but this kind of interdependence probably would not exist if California went rebel.