So Democratic candidates won in a bunch of off-year elections including Mayor of New York, Governors of New Jersey and Virginia. But what does it mean or matter if the current Congress, Supreme Court Justices, and Resident of the White House refuses to accept the results of the next national election in November 2026?
Perhaps it’s time to consider the possibility (or the necessity) of legal State secession from the federal government as recommended in the book “Defederalized: After the Constitutional Crisis” by Alexander Moss. Written in an outline format, which can be difficult at times to read, the book nonetheless presents an interesting alternative to the current federal authoritarian over-reach of tRump and his cult followers against so-called Blue States and their Congressional representatives.
Moss suggests that separate individual States could legally secede from the USA and form regional coalitions that would collect taxes locally and administer federal benefit programs currently being threatened with termination by the Man in the Orange Mask. The Federal Government would still exist, only in much smaller form, for foreign policy actions and to settle inter-State disputes.
Individual State Secession, prohibited by law since the Civil War, would not be easy. It would require at minimum an Act of Congress and also, more than likely, approval by the majority (or more) of all the remaining States. Unfortunately then, it looks like the Mid-term Election a year from now is our best (and only) bet to change the downward direction of America and save Democracy from the GOP’s tyrannical rule.
But twelve months seem like twelve years in Trump Time. Between gerrymandering, voter suppression, and electoral intimidation – free and fair elections in 2026 and beyond may be next to impossible. Still, there’s too much at stake to give up now unless we don’t mind living in a lawless country with liberty and justice only for wealthy power-hungry white oligarchs.
So while they’re unlikely under current law, Confederacies of like-minded (Blue or Red) States might be what our Dis-United States of America will need to incorporate within its borders if we are to survive the current federal government’s authoritarian Trump regime.
Aside from the technical, legal, and political issues of creating new cooperative relationships between State and Federal governments, a big (perhaps bigger) problem would be the impact these Confederacies (especially in Red States) would have on individual citizens who might be deprived of the benefits they received under programs (such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) that no longer exist at the federal level.
Mass migrations may occur as people “vote with their feet” as they did in the US after the Civil War and in the Middle East when Pakistan separated from India and Muslims and Hindus emigrated to countries that favored their culture and religion.
SCOTUS decisions (such as Dobbs v. Jackson which rescinded Roe v. Wade) asserting States Rights over Federal authority have amplified political polarization and may lead to fulfillment of tRump’s assertion that if you don’t do what he says “You won’t have a country anymore.”
Maybe not a country but rather a lose Confederation of Separate and Unequal States. Ironically, creating an “Imperfect Union Divided Against Itself” may be the only way we can save our nation from total dissolution. In other words, Defederalize Or Die. (Abe Lincoln and ML King Jr. must be spinning in their graves.)
Footnote: Quotes from “Defederalized: After the Constitutional Crisis” by Alexander Moss:
The defederalized strategy doesn’t seek to eliminate vital programs but to relocate them to governance structures where they can be protected and enhanced. By systematically shifting federal functions to state control through interstate cooperation, reform advocates can build more durable, responsive, and ambitious governance systems.
Moss, Alexander. Defederalized: After The Constitutional Crisis (p. 252).
In our contemporary world, multiple models for interstate cooperation exist beyond our current constitutional framework. The Commonwealth and the European Union offer instructive examples of different integration approaches.
Moss, Alexander. Defederalized: After The Constitutional Crisis (p. 253).
