The only thing is, it would serve Republican interests for California or the entire West Coast to leave, similar to how Scotland leaving would cement Tory rule in the UK. But at the same time it would NOT serve the interests of capital, creating a rare rift in objectives between the Republican Party and the capital class.
The other issue with Balkanization is that Flyover CHUDistan (the Dakotas, Nebraska, Montana, Utah, etc.) have most of the nuclear arsenal (well, ICBMs, anyway). And those who have played Fallout: New Vegas should have an idea of how the New California Republic is going to play out...
it would serve Republican interests for California or the entire West Coast to leave,
Not it wouldn't. The Republicans already control the seats of power, and might well be able to maintain that.
The West Coast provides massive amounts of tax income, economic resources, and military personel that are also used by Republican majority states:
https://apnews.com/2f83c72de1bd440d92cdbc0d3b6bc08c/AP-FACT-CHECK:-Blue-high-tax-states-fund-red-low-tax-states
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnVPVd5YXnI
That is not to say this "blue states tend to subsidize red states" phenomenon is a bad thing, it simply follows from the fact that most of the richer people living in cities pay more taxes.
I don't disagree, you're probably right that at least in the short term, they have all the power anyway. And they'll rig it enough to keep that power in the long term. So I'll back offmy original point. But a different point... if the west coast wanted to leave, I can't imagine there would be the political will to actually start trying to physically force them back in. Now other measures to make west coast folks as uncomfortable as possible? Yeah, very possibly.
The only thing is, it would serve Republican interests for California or the entire West Coast to leave, similar to how Scotland leaving would cement Tory rule in the UK. But at the same time it would NOT serve the interests of capital, creating a rare rift in objectives between the Republican Party and the capital class.
The other issue with Balkanization is that Flyover CHUDistan (the Dakotas, Nebraska, Montana, Utah, etc.) have most of the nuclear arsenal (well, ICBMs, anyway). And those who have played Fallout: New Vegas should have an idea of how the New California Republic is going to play out...
Not it wouldn't. The Republicans already control the seats of power, and might well be able to maintain that.
The West Coast provides massive amounts of tax income, economic resources, and military personel that are also used by Republican majority states:
https://apnews.com/2f83c72de1bd440d92cdbc0d3b6bc08c/AP-FACT-CHECK:-Blue-high-tax-states-fund-red-low-tax-states
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnVPVd5YXnI
That is not to say this "blue states tend to subsidize red states" phenomenon is a bad thing, it simply follows from the fact that most of the richer people living in cities pay more taxes.
I don't disagree, you're probably right that at least in the short term, they have all the power anyway. And they'll rig it enough to keep that power in the long term. So I'll back offmy original point. But a different point... if the west coast wanted to leave, I can't imagine there would be the political will to actually start trying to physically force them back in. Now other measures to make west coast folks as uncomfortable as possible? Yeah, very possibly.