Originally posted by Vuijox
texas is bigger and better armed than afghanistan

Armed currently? Yes. But if they secede the very 1st thing the U.S. Government will do is to strip them of all U.S. Military except for National Guard... and even those would lose their weapons and equipment. No way they allow any nuclear weapons to remain... no way they allow them to have an highly equipped Air Force and Army and, for damn sure, they'd have no Navy at all. The other way around that is for Texas to sign a contract... permanently... that they would NEVER, in any way, attack the U.S. or it's allies. And don't think they'd sign that so... it's goodbye to all their big military toys.
That leaves them with no organized protection against the Cartels of Mexico and if you think owning a gun makes you a soldier-worthy combatant then you've got another thing coming. A home owner with guns is no match to a militant organization, highly trained and well equipped. And that's exactly what the cartels of south america are.

Originally posted by Cowpoker
You can't start a war with a neighboring country to simply seize territory, the world wouldn't allow it.

Oh wait, Russia is trying it and nobody is doing shit about it, we just need a crazy asshole in the white house.



Greenland

Originally posted by Cowpoker
You can't start a war with a neighboring country to simply seize territory, the world wouldn't allow it.

Oh wait, Russia is trying it and nobody is doing shit about it, we just need a crazy asshole in the white house.

The United Theocracy of Texas would be the one seizing territory from the United States.

Originally posted by Corndog
The United Theocracy of Texas would be the one seizing territory from the United States.

Meh, more like when the USSR broke up over creative differences and meddling girlfriends.

Originally posted by Corndog
Clarence Thomas is married to a woman that was lobbying state legislatures to overturn election results in 2020. How do you think he's going to rule when Republicans decide to do away with elections?

What about Brett? The whiny frat boy that broke down in his hearing and talked about how Democrats would regret being mean to him?

Or the handmaiden that got rushed through the process a few weeks before an election?

These are the people I'm supposed to have faith in protecting democracy?

The US government doesn't require your faith, you don't even need to like them very much.

Impossible to predict but fun to imagine what a succession would look like.

I assume Texans would immediately forfeit their SS, no more medicare. Would the US government require Texas to be on the hook for a pro-rated amount of the US federal debt since they helped create it? What would commerce and travel be like between the two countries, would the US be bitter and blockade Texas?

Originally posted by Cowpoker
The US government doesn't require your faith, you don't even need to like them very much.

Governments only exist based on faith. Once a populace loses faith in their authority they quickly cease to exist.

Originally posted by Corndog
Governments only exist based on faith. Once a populace loses faith in their authority they quickly cease to exist.

Populace lost faith long time ago and yet here we are.

Originally posted by Hammer31
Populace lost faith long time ago and yet here we are.

You mean on the brink of collapse?

I agree.

Originally posted by Corndog
You mean on the brink of collapse?

I agree.

How long do you think we have? The midterms will likely go the way of Republicans, 2024 is when we usher in the dictator part II. Do you think we ease in to fascism in 5-10 years or by mid 2025, you're running to the hills?

Originally posted by Corndog
Governments only exist based on faith. Once a populace loses faith in their authority they quickly cease to exist.

Define "Once" because I haven't met a single person in my lifetime that thinks the government can be trusted.

A lot of people think secession is just like filing for divorce and navigating complex messy legal proceedings, but there is in fact no legal route to seceding, so either a lot of people are going to die or a lot of people are going to cope.

"One nation under god indivisible yada yada" -the same people who want to secede

Originally posted by Cowpoker
How long do you think we have? The midterms will likely go the way of Republicans, 2024 is when we usher in the dictator part II. Do you think we ease in to fascism in 5-10 years or by mid 2025, you're running to the hills?

I've said I don't think the country will be the same in a decade. I can't give an exact date, that's not really how failing democracies work. It's more of a boiling frog thing than a military coup. There's not going to be a hard point where one day we are a functional democracy then the next day we aren't.

Considering the general lack of faith in elections and institutions, it's pretty easy to make an argument that it's already collapsing. Which creates a situation where it's beneficial for demagogues to expedite the process while ensuring they come out on top. That's why the 2020 lie is still going strong among the GOP. Most elected officials know it wasn't actually stolen, but it does give them cover to actually steal the next one. Which further degrades faith in the system, but at least they are the ones that come out ahead.

Read about Turkey and Hungary to see how democracies fall into authoritarianism nowadays. It's not a coincidence that Orbán and Erdoğan are lauded by the Republican party officials. They came out on top of failing democracies. It's a goal the GOP has been working on for a long time, especially the most fanatical religious parts of it.

Meanwhile Democrats are suffering from neoliberal brain rot and playing civility politics with the belief that as long as the government is in gridlock then everything will be swell. Which worked when there was a liberal majority on the Supreme Court, or even with it mostly evenly split. Nobody is willing or able to realize what a supermajority of far right religious zealots on the bench means for the future of the country. There's no longer the backstop that prevented the excesses of the far right theocrats.