Really enjoyed the article (and a couple of the other Handwaving Freakoutery pieces I fell into). I've always figured we'd end up split into 2 pieces but his division certainly works better geographically - no need to build a giant bridge from NY to LA.
I'm not convinced the mutual defense/nonaggression treaty aspect would work any better than it did when we tried it the first time. Today's world isn't that different; only the speed of events is much changed.
Tithing into a common army? With what enforcement mechanism? The honor system version of that earlier attempt didn't work out so well.
On the other hand, at the height of the Obama years, a number of petitions were offered for this or that State seceding from the Union. The 7, or so, States that crossed the threshold of 100k signatures to (nominally) force an official Federal response collectively had nearly 50% of the nation's GDP; were almost self-sufficient on key natural resources, including natural gas, oil, iron ore, timber, and on and on; had good internal water transport; nuclear weapons; were contiguous; and had broad outlets to the Gulf (and to more oil and natural gas). Those 7 had considerable overlap with Handwaving's Greater Texas, with some overlap into New Dixie.
With all of that, we'd have had no need of Communist Pacifica; although we could have gotten suitably high prices for our energy and industrial output. Nor would we have needed much of anything from the squishes of The Yankee Union as Handwaving has constituted it.
Not sure how different that would be with regard to military defense. The areas of the country that currently supply most military personnel would live up to any defense agreements; the other areas of the country might not. The tricky thing would be that the new countries that are serious about self-defense would abut those that might not be. How does Cowboy Country defend itself from an overseas enemy that establishes control over Communist Pacifica?
One problem I have with the new countries is the expectation that Texas will serve as a linchpin for one of them. Texas is not Blue but I'm not convinced it's still Red enough to make common cause with its neighbors to the north. A 55/45 split between Trump and Clinton in 2016 doesn't scream "Texit" to me.
I have disliked Woodard's divisions, which I considered derivative of Joel Garreau's Nine Nations, largely because Woodard is a complete prick when writing about any group he doesn't like, and he takes the word of academics about boundaries, rather than the People's Observations. Yet I have to admit, how this played out in the last election, he just might be right.
Really enjoyed the article (and a couple of the other Handwaving Freakoutery pieces I fell into). I've always figured we'd end up split into 2 pieces but his division certainly works better geographically - no need to build a giant bridge from NY to LA.
ReplyDeleteI'm not convinced the mutual defense/nonaggression treaty aspect would work any better than it did when we tried it the first time. Today's world isn't that different; only the speed of events is much changed.
ReplyDeleteTithing into a common army? With what enforcement mechanism? The honor system version of that earlier attempt didn't work out so well.
On the other hand, at the height of the Obama years, a number of petitions were offered for this or that State seceding from the Union. The 7, or so, States that crossed the threshold of 100k signatures to (nominally) force an official Federal response collectively had nearly 50% of the nation's GDP; were almost self-sufficient on key natural resources, including natural gas, oil, iron ore, timber, and on and on; had good internal water transport; nuclear weapons; were contiguous; and had broad outlets to the Gulf (and to more oil and natural gas). Those 7 had considerable overlap with Handwaving's Greater Texas, with some overlap into New Dixie.
With all of that, we'd have had no need of Communist Pacifica; although we could have gotten suitably high prices for our energy and industrial output. Nor would we have needed much of anything from the squishes of The Yankee Union as Handwaving has constituted it.
Eric Hines
Not sure how different that would be with regard to military defense. The areas of the country that currently supply most military personnel would live up to any defense agreements; the other areas of the country might not. The tricky thing would be that the new countries that are serious about self-defense would abut those that might not be. How does Cowboy Country defend itself from an overseas enemy that establishes control over Communist Pacifica?
ReplyDeleteOne problem I have with the new countries is the expectation that Texas will serve as a linchpin for one of them. Texas is not Blue but I'm not convinced it's still Red enough to make common cause with its neighbors to the north. A 55/45 split between Trump and Clinton in 2016 doesn't scream "Texit" to me.
I have disliked Woodard's divisions, which I considered derivative of Joel Garreau's Nine Nations, largely because Woodard is a complete prick when writing about any group he doesn't like, and he takes the word of academics about boundaries, rather than the People's Observations. Yet I have to admit, how this played out in the last election, he just might be right.
ReplyDelete