Legal/Government
What if McCain wins? Welcome to the Independent Republic of California!
While driving home from the bay area last weekend I was worrying about what would happen if McCain wins the election this coming tuesday. Then with one thought the entire situation turned on its head and all sorts of interesting things would come about. Big things.
I think that if McCain wins, the will be rioting in the blue states. That in turn will fuel more economic uncertainty. More business will close, more pointless bailouts will be arranged. And within a few months of McCain taking office one really scary/exciting thing will happen: The US Government will become insolvent.
No one will lend the US anymore money. Without being able to pay its bills the Federal Government will cease to function and likely cease to exist in its current form. The United States of America will cease to exist. Then each of the 50 states will have to make up their mind on what to do -- suddenly there will be one less superpower and 50 new smaller countries.
For rich blue states, this will be good. For California it will be really good! California has all it needs in order to stand on its own and if all the federal taxes that are now sent to DC stay in the state it may actually be close to solvent. Add in one simple thing like legalizing and taxing Marijuana and we'll certainly have enough money to survive. Maybe California will stand on its own, maybe it will form a new country with Oregon and Washington -- fine by me -- we share enough values to make a reasonable country.
However, there will be lots and lots of problems. Obviously this is going to be very painful in a lot of ways that we can anticipate. But there will be come serious issues facing the state that will need to be considered and considered quick. Top concern in my mind? Immigration!
Why? Consider the red states that take in more money than they pay to the Feds. By definition these states are not solvent and their already thin programs to take care of their own people will suffer even more. I would bet that many of these states would turn into poor third world nations, with famine and boatloads of crime. What do people do who are poor and see no way out? Many would consider moving to where things are better -- like California.
These poor nations would be standing side by side with Mexico. Illegal immigrants to California would no longer be predominantly latinos, but we would go back to having Oakie immigrants much like we did during the great depression. Except these people would not be citizens of California, but foreigners. And California would only be able to take so many immigrants before the country's social program would be overburdened.
Those are grim thoughts. But the red states voting with their religious beliefs would get the chance to create nations suited for religious people where people of their own ilk can live together, ban gay marriage and pray in school. Fine! I think these nations would then also learn some harsh lessons on how to survive. Economic prosperity cannot be created by praying! Many states would have to learn harsh lessons that would drastically change the make-up of these states. It would be really ugly, but fascinating to watch.
So, am I smoking crack or does this seem like a real possibility?
Posted by Mayhem at November 2, 2008 05:04 PM
let me say first that i always enjoy reading your casual stories, while this one is not, of course. this election certainly has sparked lots of interest here in good ol europe, and to my surprise, you might find quite a few people who aren't scared by mccain. but overall, it certainly would help obama if we could vote as well. i sure hope it doesn't come to that, but the scenario you describe here isn't so far fetched, after all, mexico is not much more backward that the central states.
given that, i wonder why this wasn't made into a feature movie yet :)
