Secession

[vanguard96]

The idea of the US was formed based on nullification if any of the states considered that being a member was not worth considering that they could go their own way rather than be dragged down together into destructive wars.

I suppose if it got really bad rather than having martial law, mass seizures of property like in Venezuela, or a full-on civil war that secession would be acceptable alternative. We are very far from that point.

Instead though I'd like to think federalism and increased regional autonomy and decentralization of power would be more beneficial. This would allow for the US to stay as one country but allow 320+ million people live their own lives in a more prosperous way rather than under an increasingly restrictive system which is limiting opportunities.

In some ways the current system with the states having a good deal of power relative to each other has some strong negative aspects like separate and non-reciprocal licensing - sometimes by non-government groups such as the AMA or the Bar Associations which make it more difficult for people to vote with their feet and leave a place with repressive laws. I think with a 'hard' secession reciprocity would be even worse in that case and people's options could be even more limited.

What makes it tough nowadays is that so-many people are playing a power politics game particularly the 2 mainstream parties and even moreso for the identity politics junkies of the far right and far left. So it's an all-or-nothing, zero-sum game and no one wants to yield an inch on anything. This is in spite of the co-operative and collaborative nature of both society and the economy that can be often times mutually beneficial.

Many anarchist / right libertarians support the separatist movements in Catalonia and Scotland on principle based on self-determination even though they realize that the parties that want it most will not be classical liberals/libertarians. If we are holding out for that kind of system it will never ever come to fruition.

It's a different story on the ground in say Barcelona as a non-leftist and a person would not want to cede liberties over to people who would make things worse for them personally even though maybe 60% of the people want it. I suppose it would be the same thing for the people in Austin for instance regarding a Tex-it or in rural conservative areas of the Golden State in the event of Cal-exit. In that case I think it is better to have a so-called 'soft-secession' whereby there is a little more independence locally where your vote can make a difference but the overriding increase of federal power via interstate commerce and general welfare clause and the mission creep of the regulatory and security state can be dialed back as the current growth is unsustainable when it is done on so many fronts both here in the US and abroad.

Of course neither side would likely accept that and would not want to sacrifice their special entitlements so we have the current impasse and the looming culture wars.