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.
