6 ms·

I was just thinking the exact opposite, maybe the US needs to split into two nations. I was drawing border lines in my mind around central regions and wondering

I was just thinking the exact opposite, maybe the US needs to split into two nations. I was drawing border lines in my mind around central regions and wondering how things would pan out if they seceded. The lack of geographic continuity would be a problem for the coasts, but perhaps they could join Canada.

sixothree 2y ago
[flagged]
- roenxi 2y ago
  The Joye of Ye Taxes is that you cannot choose to stop paying them just because of a disagreement about how they are spent. Elections need to be won first.
verisimi 2y ago
Didn't the south try this, before being forced back into the "union"?
- card_zero 2y ago
  True, that was an awkward episode. Now you've got me reading about the motivations for the civil war. I mean obviously slavery, but why go to war rather than let the Confederacy be a separate nation? Seems the fighting was over the political future of yet-to-be Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma (if I've got the right territories there), and whether they would have slavery, once populated.
  - themaninthedark 2y ago
    Because the south decided to start shooting up Federal Forts and killing tax collectors.
ncruces 2y ago
Try splitting Georgia, where Harris wins a few populous counties with a 30 to 70 pp margin, and Trump leads the lump of smaller counties with a 30 to 70 pp margin. They reelected the DA that's prosecuting Trump on one of the populous counties, on the same election where the state swung further towards Trump.
tstrimple 2y ago
Blue areas aren’t states. They are cities. Democratic voting counties account for over 70% of the nations gdp. Conservative counties quite literally cannot support themselves.
- squilliam 2y ago
  > Blue areas aren’t states. They are cities. Democratic voting counties account for over 70% of the nations gdp. Conservative counties quite literally cannot support themselves. But they can feed themselves.
  - a2tech 2y ago
    Not without illegal labor they can’t.
- ruthmarx 2y ago
  > Conservative counties quite literally cannot support themselves. And yet they hold democratic counties hostage. Somewhat like parasites.
  - card_zero 2y ago
    It works the same way in other countries, such as the UK and Turkey - rural areas are where the traditionalists live.
    - ruthmarx 2y ago
      It's much worse in the US though because the gap is so much wider. Even in the UK or Canada or Australia, the right is not opposing climate change or healthcare or anything reasonable to the same extent as in the US.
      - mrkeen 2y ago
        The last time the right got voted in in Australia, they revoked the carbon tax that the left had recently set up. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/southern-crossroads/2013/sep/18/tony-abbott-abolish-carbon-price https://www.theguardian.com/environment/southern-crossroads/...
cmrdporcupine 2y ago
Cross the border from here in Canada into very "blue" New York and you'll drive through a huge swathe of what is actually "red" Trump country in Western New York. Outside of the urban areas even "blue" states are red, or "purple." The reality is that America voted for this guy. It's not nearly as regionally divided as liberals in America want to think. For me, it means not going there anymore. I just won't cross the border for any reason.
- a2tech 2y ago
  Rural Canadians are eating up trump style rhetoric as fast as it can be minted. Canada is next. There’s no escape from this kind of madness.
  - cmrdporcupine 2y ago
    Yeah I live rural Ontario. Last municipal election people's lawns were covered with idiotic "Stop Woke" signs. And my parents are in rural Alberta. Oh boy. Not with a bang but a whimper, etc. etc.
    - DeathArrow 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - cmrdporcupine 2y ago
        [flagged]
        dang 2y ago
        You can't post like this to HN, and we have to ban accounts that do. I certainly don't want to ban you, so please don't. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        2y ago
lenkite 2y ago
Won't this be impossible since you have the urban/rural areas of the same state belonging to these two different nations ? At-least impossible without a gargantuan civil war that makes the 1861 war look like a toddler's quarrel.
DeathArrow 2y ago
That would need some population exchange.
a2tech 2y ago
In the past, maybe. Trump won the popular vote last night. He swept almost everything, as painful as that is for me to say. There is no way to divide the country without mass migration which would never happen.

sixothree 2y ago

[flagged]

roenxi 2y ago
The Joye of Ye Taxes is that you cannot choose to stop paying them just because of a disagreement about how they are spent. Elections need to be won first.

verisimi 2y ago

Didn't the south try this, before being forced back into the "union"?

card_zero 2y ago
True, that was an awkward episode. Now you've got me reading about the motivations for the civil war. I mean obviously slavery, but why go to war rather than let the Confederacy be a separate nation? Seems the fighting was over the political future of yet-to-be Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma (if I've got the right territories there), and whether they would have slavery, once populated.
- themaninthedark 2y ago
  Because the south decided to start shooting up Federal Forts and killing tax collectors.

ncruces 2y ago

Try splitting Georgia, where Harris wins a few populous counties with a 30 to 70 pp margin, and Trump leads the lump of smaller counties with a 30 to 70 pp margin. They reelected the DA that's prosecuting Trump on one of the populous counties, on the same election where the state swung further towards Trump.

tstrimple 2y ago

Blue areas aren’t states. They are cities. Democratic voting counties account for over 70% of the nations gdp. Conservative counties quite literally cannot support themselves.

squilliam 2y ago
> Blue areas aren’t states. They are cities. Democratic voting counties account for over 70% of the nations gdp. Conservative counties quite literally cannot support themselves. But they can feed themselves.
- a2tech 2y ago
  Not without illegal labor they can’t.
ruthmarx 2y ago
> Conservative counties quite literally cannot support themselves. And yet they hold democratic counties hostage. Somewhat like parasites.
- card_zero 2y ago
  It works the same way in other countries, such as the UK and Turkey - rural areas are where the traditionalists live.
  - ruthmarx 2y ago
    It's much worse in the US though because the gap is so much wider. Even in the UK or Canada or Australia, the right is not opposing climate change or healthcare or anything reasonable to the same extent as in the US.
    - mrkeen 2y ago
      The last time the right got voted in in Australia, they revoked the carbon tax that the left had recently set up. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/southern-crossroads/2013/sep/18/tony-abbott-abolish-carbon-price https://www.theguardian.com/environment/southern-crossroads/...

cmrdporcupine 2y ago

Cross the border from here in Canada into very "blue" New York and you'll drive through a huge swathe of what is actually "red" Trump country in Western New York. Outside of the urban areas even "blue" states are red, or "purple." The reality is that America voted for this guy. It's not nearly as regionally divided as liberals in America want to think. For me, it means not going there anymore. I just won't cross the border for any reason.

a2tech 2y ago
Rural Canadians are eating up trump style rhetoric as fast as it can be minted. Canada is next. There’s no escape from this kind of madness.
- cmrdporcupine 2y ago
  Yeah I live rural Ontario. Last municipal election people's lawns were covered with idiotic "Stop Woke" signs. And my parents are in rural Alberta. Oh boy. Not with a bang but a whimper, etc. etc.
  - DeathArrow 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - cmrdporcupine 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - dang 2y ago
        You can't post like this to HN, and we have to ban accounts that do. I certainly don't want to ban you, so please don't. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        2y ago

lenkite 2y ago

Won't this be impossible since you have the urban/rural areas of the same state belonging to these two different nations ? At-least impossible without a gargantuan civil war that makes the 1861 war look like a toddler's quarrel.

DeathArrow 2y ago

That would need some population exchange.

a2tech 2y ago

In the past, maybe. Trump won the popular vote last night. He swept almost everything, as painful as that is for me to say. There is no way to divide the country without mass migration which would never happen.