It just occurred to me this afternoon that this (and worse) was what I was afraid of most of last fall, then I finally relaxed around mid-November. Like, I still had a stash of pandemic food in case of supply chain disruptions and I didn’t start disbursing stuff back into the regular pantry till mid-November. Huh.
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Ponder and I were talking about how we sort of expect the USA to fracture the same way Britain is breaking from the EU with Brexit sometime in the next decade or so.
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…fuck. I live in the wrong part.
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Unfortunately, if this ever comes to pass it won’t be nearly as neat and tidy as Brexit. A truly fractured US means war.
This is why I very, very much hope that Biden can make some sort of ~togetherness happen after the last four years.
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This would mean civil war and mass death, so I certainly hope not.
Eta the ONLY exceptions I could think of are places that operate semi autonomously, with distinct borders, and/ or have a very distinct culture. So, Texas, Hawaii, or Alaska may be able to get some sort of special semi independent status without war. But I don’t think the south could leave again without another civil war.
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We would much rather y’all stay together.
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I just saw that a Capitol police officer has died from their injuries.
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Does anyone know why there was such a greater proportion of Representatives who objected to certifying the results than Senators? The only thing I have thought of is since they represent much smaller geographic areas, they didn’t have to worry about appealing to as broad a group of voters. (If the objections were based on actual concerns with no political influence or if they were purely along party lines id expect roughly the same proportion to object.)
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Correct - they belong to districts that are extremely red politically.
Their biggest risk is getting primaried in 2022. Anyone “disloyal” to Trump has already been threatened to expect a challenge from an even more right-wing, Pro-Trump candidate in the next Republican primary (which in these districts is a lock on winning the seat). This is what happened previously with the Tea Party, even pre-Trump.
The senators have to balance the risk of losing in a primary to losing the whole election. Also, 2/3 of the senators won’t be running for re-election so soon.
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It’s an interesting idea. When election results were rolling in I was mentally noting how / where the country was fractured. Rural areas tend to be very conservative, while big cities particularly along the coast tend to be more liberal. So the split I saw based on voting was most of the land areas go in one group and most of the population centers in another. I didn’t see an obvious border. And even if a lot of people live in cities, their needs are provided by a much larger area (for example, for growing food, watershed, and so on).
I too hope Biden is able to change the culture at all levels in Washington and help us to find unity and healing.
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California could separate; they have the 5th largest economy in the world if they were their own country, and they set so many regulations at the state level. However… not sure know we don’t want that.
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Another politics 101 question:
If these reps are from my state but not my district, do they give a crap about what I have to say? Does it matter if I have a tenuous connection to their district (grew up there, work there, vacation there, etc?)
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Super depressing show but very literary, relevant to current discussion. I listened to it when we were 1) under curfew and 2) could not breath in our own apartment due to the air, so that was a feeling
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Tenuous connection, yes, worth mentioning. Not the same as a voter but still imp.
I am in a super small state with only 5 congresscritters, and as an OR caucus, we lobby every single representative when we’re on capitol hill even though I don’t live in 2/3 of our reps districts.
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I don’t think the US is fracturing if state govts have anything to do with it. The states that make the most money are usually blue.
We do have to address the radicalization happening in our country, though. I hope this is a good wake up call that domestic anti govt groups are a bigger threat than, say, your friendly Muslim or black neighbor 
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Does anyone kinda wish they had the global version of the citizen app? Right now is the ideal time for any foreign entity to make a move, when things are chaos and people abdicating their post - there’s no way appropriate security briefings are occurring with the proper audience right now.
My mom has felt for a long time that the US as we know it, as a sovereign nation, won’t last through my lifetime. Sadly she’s not a sci-fi fan because whenever she talks about it all I can think of is Firefly.
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As a former Texan, Texas likes to think they operate on their own. They also like to point out they have a huge amount of the military, and thus would win in a war against the US. But the federal government isn’t going to just give up their military assets to a seceding state. Texas might keep the bases, but any asset that can be moved out would go. Texas would struggle if they didn’t have federal assistance. They take plenty.
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As far as I can tell the reps from my district also don’t care what I think…
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As a citizen in a resource rich country adjacent to the world’s mightiest military power this is something that sometimes gets discussed. What if we were invaded?
There are many reasons I don’t think it will happen, but relevant to your question: annexing the states would be a huge pain in the ass. The population is heavily armed and devoted to nationalism. The people have high expectations of their political institutions and infrastructure. It would be obscenely expensive and difficult to maintain control.
Much more likely is corporate takeover of government. You’re already halfway there.
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The money doesn’t support secession.
That’s why McConnell/ Chao noped out of this nonsense the minute it went violent and was clearly a minority view that would no longer enrich themselves and their corporate friends.
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