If those 3 leave the union, I think the country's more or less done for.

The worst thing about Toddler Death Voltron is: it is sentient and wants to no longer exist but they refuse to let it die because it hasn't been born yet.

Good luck writing THAT into your next screenplay MAGA Universe Doctor Strange

We did that with CARB and now the feds are trying to stop it after decades of other states signing on because it worked so well here in Cali.

At the very least they need to hire these doctors and scientists that RFK Jr. fired so their wisdom and knowledge don't go to waste!

He's just 16 preventable illnesses in a trenchcoat

If only!

Great, provided there is some version of the Nuremberg Trials for Silicon Valley techbro nazis.

They are welcome to fix their hearts or die.

It’s a good way to keep out garbage ICE invasions from LA.

The problem... or complication with this...

Is that basically every part of WA and OR east of the Cascades will ... counter-seceede.

Go look up the Greater Idaho project.

There is, and has been for a while now, an effort to ... have the eastern counties of WA and OR leave their respective states and join Idaho.

From a legal/constitutional perspective... this is completely unprecedented, as best I can tell this has never before happened in US history, states redrawing their own borders, via counties which largely actually have democratically voted to do so via popular referendums.

Northern/Eastern CA + Southern OR will possibly form into something like the old attempts at the proposed state of 'Jackson'.

There is an absolutely huge political polarization within all these states between urban and rural areas, roughly also by which side of the Cascades you are on.

I've hastily cropped that image from this source:

https://brilliantmaps.com/county-1992-v-2024/

So... yeah... if the governors of WA OR and CA formally seceeded and formed Cascadia? Came 'too close' to functionally doing that?

Well the rightwingers have an arguably legit legal counter move for that (or so they will argue, the whole point is different sides do not agree) and then basically the West Coast explodes into functionally a civil war of some kind, probably involving both partisan and 'official' state forces, and federal forces, roughly breaking apart along the Cascades, but it could easily be way more chaotic than that, depending on what say, forces at JBLM and Kitsap, and other major West Coast bases decide to do, as well as major city/regional/state police.

Let me personally tell you that Eastern WA/OR and Idaho still very, very much remember Ruby Ridge, the militia movement never died, it just went dormant till Trump, and uh, skipping up to present day, is now basically being formally recruited into ICE... ICE now has more funding than the United States Marine Corps.

Fucking yeehaw is what I very much fear would happen if either side makes significant moves toward anything resembling actual secession.

It’s literally a life-or-death matter.

They should probably just join back up with Old Mexico and take Colorado too so they are left out cold

Cascadia Cascadia Cascadia! ! !

Very high concentrations of educated citizens among the populace, a functional tax system that actually reinvests into its people compared to many other states in the union (especially below the Mason-Dixon line), and key cities center to high-tech development and critical US industries, military or otherwise (Seattle, LA, San Jose, San Francisco).

Additionally, because these states were some of the last to be incorporated into the United States, they largely were able to develop in less rigid ways in the 20th and 21st centuries compared to other states in the union (Cheaper land also allowed developing industries like computing to invest heavily in the region).

Though not a perfect summation, here's a video from Vox about why Silicon Valley is located in California: https://youtu.be/6xvrKW2H_hA

I can try to explain any other questions about our politics and social norms as a Californian (though I'm less familiar with Oregon and Washington State, sadly).

There's 2. Washington (State, west coast) and Washington DC (East coast, not a state)