re: #136 freetoken

We are so tightly interconnected that I can’t see us falling apart politically any time soon.

Sure, once enough years go by then anything can happen. Maybe in the year 2117, if a dystopic vision comes to pass and we don’t transition off of fossil fuels fast enough, and nuclear wars become the way for nations to try and survive. In such a Mad Max scenario then our political union can easily disintegrate.

But for now, I think we’ll just bitch among ourselves and call each other names.

What will happen is that the states will become dramatically different from each other as GOP agitation destroys federal power and more and more authority devolves to the states themselves. The differences will be in education, civil rights, and economic opportunity. We are already at the point where conservative state officials openly defy the federal courts and this can only increase as the federal executive itself undermines the courts and their authority. Some states will prosper, not least because of talented people fleeing the conservative ones, while others will stagnate and regress, with minimum wage economies, endless privilege for the rich, suppression of minorities, and theocratic propaganda in place of education.
When, and whether, this will lead to an actual political rupture is anybody’s guess, but the effect will be same. Foreigners may start distinguishing between “blue America” and “red America.” They may already be doing so.