Progressives: Should we let some states secede?
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  Progressives: Should we let some states secede?
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Author Topic: Progressives: Should we let some states secede?  (Read 1592 times)
Starry Eyed Jagaloon
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« Reply #25 on: May 04, 2021, 09:00:48 AM »

Suppose a constitutional amendment were proposed that would allow a state state to secede from the union if it was supported in a referendum by 60% of the state’s population.

Should progressives support this? 
Well, yes.

Splitting up the US is a BAD idea, but I don't see how you should go against the wishes of 60%+ of the population of a state.

However, there should be a transitional phase where people could move in and out of the US and that state before it took effect. We wouldn't want US citizens suddenly trapped in some hellhole Qanon regressive state with no way out.
That's an incredibly low vote share and I have absolutely no problem overriding it.
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Diabolical Materialism
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« Reply #26 on: May 04, 2021, 09:18:46 AM »

Suppose a constitutional amendment were proposed that would allow a state state to secede from the union if it was supported in a referendum by 60% of the state’s population.

Should progressives support this? 
Well, yes.

Splitting up the US is a BAD idea, but I don't see how you should go against the wishes of 60%+ of the population of a state.

However, there should be a transitional phase where people could move in and out of the US and that state before it took effect. We wouldn't want US citizens suddenly trapped in some hellhole Qanon regressive state with no way out.
That's an incredibly low vote share and I have absolutely no problem overriding it.
Seems a bit arbitrary, what would your preferred threshold be then and why?
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Starry Eyed Jagaloon
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« Reply #27 on: May 04, 2021, 09:21:44 AM »
« Edited: May 04, 2021, 11:10:16 AM by Tsaiite »

Suppose a constitutional amendment were proposed that would allow a state state to secede from the union if it was supported in a referendum by 60% of the state’s population.

Should progressives support this?  
Well, yes.

Splitting up the US is a BAD idea, but I don't see how you should go against the wishes of 60%+ of the population of a state.

However, there should be a transitional phase where people could move in and out of the US and that state before it took effect. We wouldn't want US citizens suddenly trapped in some hellhole Qanon regressive state with no way out.
That's an incredibly low vote share and I have absolutely no problem overriding it.
Seems a bit arbitrary, what would your preferred threshold be then and why?
Considering referendums have no democratic legitimacy in the United States, I really don't care what their outcome is at all. That said, if a *monolithic* group of people did want to leave the United States (say, 85%+), I might consider it but still probably not. Resist the mob and all that.
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KaiserDave
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« Reply #28 on: May 04, 2021, 09:23:39 AM »

No. We should be adding to our territory, not subtracting from it.
What’s this supposed to mean?
Presumably expanding the borders of the US. Not sure what direction Dule is suggesting, if any.

North.

We will fight in the fields and we will fight in the glaciers. We will not surrender one inch of Canadian soil.

(I am a Canadian citizen for those who don't know)
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Ferguson97
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« Reply #29 on: May 04, 2021, 09:33:43 AM »

No, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
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Diabolical Materialism
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« Reply #30 on: May 04, 2021, 09:36:22 AM »

Suppose a constitutional amendment were proposed that would allow a state state to secede from the union if it was supported in a referendum by 60% of the state’s population.

Should progressives support this? 
Well, yes.

Splitting up the US is a BAD idea, but I don't see how you should go against the wishes of 60%+ of the population of a state.

However, there should be a transitional phase where people could move in and out of the US and that state before it took effect. We wouldn't want US citizens suddenly trapped in some hellhole Qanon regressive state with no way out.
That's an incredibly low vote share and I have absolutely no problem overriding it.
Seems a bit arbitrary, what would your preferred threshold be then and why?
Considering referendums have no democratic legitimacy in the United States, I really don't care what their outcome is at all. That said, if a *monolithic* group of people did want to leave the United States (say, 85%+), I might consider it.
I haven't heard this claim before, do you mind elaborating?
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KaiserDave
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« Reply #31 on: May 04, 2021, 09:36:53 AM »

No of course not
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Starry Eyed Jagaloon
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« Reply #32 on: May 04, 2021, 10:29:00 AM »

Suppose a constitutional amendment were proposed that would allow a state state to secede from the union if it was supported in a referendum by 60% of the state’s population.

Should progressives support this? 
Well, yes.

Splitting up the US is a BAD idea, but I don't see how you should go against the wishes of 60%+ of the population of a state.

However, there should be a transitional phase where people could move in and out of the US and that state before it took effect. We wouldn't want US citizens suddenly trapped in some hellhole Qanon regressive state with no way out.
That's an incredibly low vote share and I have absolutely no problem overriding it.
Seems a bit arbitrary, what would your preferred threshold be then and why?
Considering referendums have no democratic legitimacy in the United States, I really don't care what their outcome is at all. That said, if a *monolithic* group of people did want to leave the United States (say, 85%+), I might consider it.
I haven't heard this claim before, do you mind elaborating?
We don't have a legal procedure by which states can unilaterally secede, which means any ballot measure or whatever by which 50% of a state's voters might vote to leave the United States isn't legitimate and can rightfully be ignored.
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Fmr. Gov. NickG
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« Reply #33 on: May 04, 2021, 10:32:17 AM »
« Edited: May 04, 2021, 10:35:31 AM by Fmr. Gov. NickG »

Suppose a constitutional amendment were proposed that would allow a state state to secede from the union if it was supported in a referendum by 60% of the state’s population.

Should progressives support this?  
Well, yes.

Splitting up the US is a BAD idea, but I don't see how you should go against the wishes of 60%+ of the population of a state.

However, there should be a transitional phase where people could move in and out of the US and that state before it took effect. We wouldn't want US citizens suddenly trapped in some hellhole Qanon regressive state with no way out.
That's an incredibly low vote share and I have absolutely no problem overriding it.
Seems a bit arbitrary, what would your preferred threshold be then and why?
Considering referendums have no democratic legitimacy in the United States, I really don't care what their outcome is at all. That said, if a *monolithic* group of people did want to leave the United States (say, 85%+), I might consider it.
I haven't heard this claim before, do you mind elaborating?
We don't have a legal procedure by which states can unilaterally secede, which means any ballot measure or whatever by which 50% of a state's voters might vote to leave the United States isn't legitimate and can rightfully be ignored.

Certainly this is true under the constitution as currently written.  But I'm proposing the constitution be amended to give such referenda binding legal effect.  I definitely think the threshold under such an amendment should be greater than 50%, and probably involve a multi-step process over a period of years.
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Fmr. Gov. NickG
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« Reply #34 on: May 04, 2021, 10:34:46 AM »

Do progressive really believe there is no situation in which secession is morally supportable?  If not, how do you square this with support for separatist movements or self-determination claims in other nations?
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Oregon Eagle Politics
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« Reply #35 on: May 04, 2021, 10:41:47 AM »

No. Remember that a majority of the humans living in Wyoming did not vote for Donald Trump. Trump got 190K votes in a state of 580K people.
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Diabolical Materialism
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« Reply #36 on: May 04, 2021, 10:43:33 AM »

Suppose a constitutional amendment were proposed that would allow a state state to secede from the union if it was supported in a referendum by 60% of the state’s population.

Should progressives support this? 
Well, yes.

Splitting up the US is a BAD idea, but I don't see how you should go against the wishes of 60%+ of the population of a state.

However, there should be a transitional phase where people could move in and out of the US and that state before it took effect. We wouldn't want US citizens suddenly trapped in some hellhole Qanon regressive state with no way out.
That's an incredibly low vote share and I have absolutely no problem overriding it.
Seems a bit arbitrary, what would your preferred threshold be then and why?
Considering referendums have no democratic legitimacy in the United States, I really don't care what their outcome is at all. That said, if a *monolithic* group of people did want to leave the United States (say, 85%+), I might consider it.
I haven't heard this claim before, do you mind elaborating?
We don't have a legal procedure by which states can unilaterally secede, which means any ballot measure or whatever by which 50% of a state's voters might vote to leave the United States isn't legitimate and can rightfully be ignored.
Ah gotcha you're speaking in regards to secession referendums specifically. I mistakenly assumed you were talking about all referendums regardless of the content, my bad.
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Fmr. Gov. NickG
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« Reply #37 on: May 04, 2021, 10:45:58 AM »

No. Remember that a majority of the humans living in Wyoming did not vote for Donald Trump. Trump got 190K votes in a state of 580K people.

If a majority of the population in Wyoming did not support Trump, presumably a supermajority of the population would not support secession.
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Starry Eyed Jagaloon
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« Reply #38 on: May 04, 2021, 10:53:45 AM »

Suppose a constitutional amendment were proposed that would allow a state state to secede from the union if it was supported in a referendum by 60% of the state’s population.

Should progressives support this?  
Well, yes.

Splitting up the US is a BAD idea, but I don't see how you should go against the wishes of 60%+ of the population of a state.

However, there should be a transitional phase where people could move in and out of the US and that state before it took effect. We wouldn't want US citizens suddenly trapped in some hellhole Qanon regressive state with no way out.
That's an incredibly low vote share and I have absolutely no problem overriding it.
Seems a bit arbitrary, what would your preferred threshold be then and why?
Considering referendums have no democratic legitimacy in the United States, I really don't care what their outcome is at all. That said, if a *monolithic* group of people did want to leave the United States (say, 85%+), I might consider it.
I haven't heard this claim before, do you mind elaborating?
We don't have a legal procedure by which states can unilaterally secede, which means any ballot measure or whatever by which 50% of a state's voters might vote to leave the United States isn't legitimate and can rightfully be ignored.

Certainly this is true under the constitution as currently written.  But I'm proposing the constitution be amended to give such referenda binding legal effect.  I definitely think the threshold under such an amendment should be greater than 50%, and probably involve a multi-step process over a period of years.

Well, I certainly think that's a bad idea.
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Alcibiades
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« Reply #39 on: May 04, 2021, 10:55:05 AM »

There should be some mechanism for states to leave, as it is rather undemocratic to tell citizens that in no way can their democratic will ever be exercised over this issue, but the threshold should certainly be far higher than 50%+1 in a referendum.
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John Dule
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« Reply #40 on: May 04, 2021, 01:52:42 PM »

No. We should be adding to our territory, not subtracting from it.
What’s this supposed to mean?
Presumably expanding the borders of the US. Not sure what direction Dule is suggesting, if any.

North.

We will fight in the fields and we will fight in the glaciers. We will not surrender one inch of Canadian soil.

(I am a Canadian citizen for those who don't know)

We should've dealt with you in 1812 when we had the justification for it.
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West_Midlander
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« Reply #41 on: May 04, 2021, 02:02:19 PM »

Granted i'm not a progressive (anymore), but i would be completely opposed to to any form of succession.

The US should be as big as possible. Let's get to 60 states (or more) if we can!
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Yoda
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« Reply #42 on: May 04, 2021, 03:55:26 PM »

Throwaway thought but man can you imagine not having to subsidize Kentucky and the other deadbeat states any more?
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Just Passion Through
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« Reply #43 on: May 04, 2021, 04:20:44 PM »

Honestly I’m trying to think of what the downside to this could be.  Perhaps it should require affirmative votes in two consecutive referenda spaced a couple years apart.

The inevitable denial of basic rights to marginalized groups in those states by bigoted governments that would no longer face any federal oversight?

The states that might secede all have tiny populations compared to the tens of millions of people whose rights would be enhanced in a slightly smaller and reformed union.

And all those states would be forfeiting the benefits that come with being members of the Union. Wyoming and the Dakotas couldn't survive as independent countries. Most states except the four or five largest ones wouldn't go anywhere without the Union, and even the ones that could survive independently on paper (California, Texas) would find themselves missing their federal benefits and military protection pretty quickly.

it's not like Texas and California or any state have any serious military threats.

As border states where drug and human trafficking are real problems, they sort of do.

As far as military threats are concerned, the US really doesn't have any from foreign governments or heavy duty terrorist groups/militias, composed of citizens or otherwise. All things considered, the US is very fortunate for its geographical location. Even most of our immigration problems stemming from Latin America were directly or indirectly caused by us.

Hell, even Cuba came to be where it is under the Castro regime because the US colonized and exploited the country and supported its far-right military dictator.
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« Reply #44 on: May 04, 2021, 04:28:49 PM »

Throwaway thought but man can you imagine not having to subsidize Kentucky and the other deadbeat states any more?

Letting parts of the country that already resemble third-world countries fall even further into squalor would be pretty detestable on our part, yes.
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omar04
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« Reply #45 on: May 04, 2021, 04:48:52 PM »

Honestly I’m trying to think of what the downside to this could be.  Perhaps it should require affirmative votes in two consecutive referenda spaced a couple years apart.

The inevitable denial of basic rights to marginalized groups in those states by bigoted governments that would no longer face any federal oversight?

The states that might secede all have tiny populations compared to the tens of millions of people whose rights would be enhanced in a slightly smaller and reformed union.

And all those states would be forfeiting the benefits that come with being members of the Union. Wyoming and the Dakotas couldn't survive as independent countries. Most states except the four or five largest ones wouldn't go anywhere without the Union, and even the ones that could survive independently on paper (California, Texas) would find themselves missing their federal benefits and military protection pretty quickly.

it's not like Texas and California or any state have any serious military threats.

As border states where drug and human trafficking are real problems, they sort of do.

As far as military threats are concerned, the US really doesn't have any from foreign governments or heavy duty terrorist groups/militias, composed of citizens or otherwise. All things considered, the US is very fortunate for its geographical location. Even most of our immigration problems stemming from Latin America were directly or indirectly caused by us.

Hell, even Cuba came to be where it is under the Castro regime because the US colonized and exploited the country and supported its far-right military dictator.

human and drug trafficking while requiring large scale cooperation aren't really military matters. it's mainly the DOJ who deals with that and on a state level, most of the facilities for immigrant detainees are instate. i assume that the newly independent states would join the various UNODC treaties: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/index.html and continue cooperation with the US in those areas.
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Crumpets
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« Reply #46 on: May 04, 2021, 06:39:48 PM »

I support a Premier Leage-style promotion-relegation system. Lame states can secede into the lower-tier Little Caesers American States Confederation until they earn their way back into the United States.
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HisGrace
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« Reply #47 on: May 04, 2021, 07:36:09 PM »

This is a terrible idea and one that used to be confined exclusively to right wingnut circles. The left is catching up, I see.

Honestly I’m trying to think of what the downside to this could be.  Perhaps it should require affirmative votes in two consecutive referenda spaced a couple years apart.

The inevitable denial of basic rights to marginalized groups in those states by bigoted governments that would no longer face any federal oversight?

Some states in the deep south would probably straight up bring back Jim Crow if they could get away with it. Guess the blacks down there aren't the black lives that matter.
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Starry Eyed Jagaloon
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« Reply #48 on: May 04, 2021, 08:47:06 PM »

Do progressive really believe there is no situation in which secession is morally supportable?  If not, how do you square this with support for separatist movements or self-determination claims in other nations?

Well, I'd argue that supporting those is deeply overrated most of the time and that self-determination is not inherently progressive.
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Hammy
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« Reply #49 on: May 04, 2021, 09:57:00 PM »

I fully support the secession of Texas and Florida--and if anything the latter should be expelled from the union.
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