Let's not kid ourselves, it wouldn't be easy, but an independent Cascadia would have significant economic advantages that suggest we'd do just fine. We have a thriving industrial sector that exports products to the globe. We are high-tech leaders. We are self-sufficient in terms of water and electricity and perhaps even food if we wanted to be. We have a well-educated, prosperous population.
Most importantly, WA and OR at least (not sure about BC) contribute more in federal taxes than we get back in spending. Keep that money here and, along with power over our own monetary and fiscal policies (no need to be lashed to insane Tea Party austerity) and you have a recipe for a country that would basically be North America's Sweden. It's a good idea that will happen someday, perhaps within our lifetimes.
In all seriousness I can't see it ever happening, @ 2 I can't see what would be so good about it, its good to be a part of the US. I can't see it ever happening.
Culturally and economically, there's no good reason for Cascadia to be in the same country as, say, Arkansas or Arizona. Let them have their broken country and their global corporate military empire. Why should we pay for it? Cascadia faces the Pacific. It would be nice to live in a progressive democratic member of the community of nations, rather than an isolated militarized bully nation. Instead of fighting the red states for the next hundred years, when they so obviously don't want the same things we do, wouldn't it be easier to just walk away and build the country we want to live in?
Any chance the 'Chatterbox' post could appear at the start of the day? I dig it, but I've usually already read about most of the featured topics elsewhere by the time it appears.
it won't happen in my lifetime, but the longer I live here the less I have in common with the US east of the Rockies. it's 3 time zones away fer chrissakes.
let the Collectivism Sucks boneheads of America have their own nation to turn into a flag waving hellscape version of Putin's Russia. leave the PNW out of it.
the only way to make cascadia work would be to have a serious population cap and sealed borders [see: Switzerland]. So; it aint happenin. I guess if you drop the whole deep ecology part then it might work but then whats the point.
@ 7 Lots of Democrats in this area but not all of us are progressive liberals, not right wingers but not progressives.
@12 I don't see that big of a difference, with some of the red states yes a difference but with the blue states no big difference. Plenty of the US not run by right wingers.
I'd rather have the extreme West Coast become one nation. Get rid of Eastern California, Eastern Oregon, and Eastern Washington and you'd get rid of all those yahoos who won't vote for services but consume 90% of them. From LA to Seattle you'd have a good slice of blue -- call it Blue World.
El oh el. If you make a cascadia, we'll be splintered in ten in a year because the differences that seem minor when the right controls moist of the continent will become vast chasms when the right is a minority. Much like the tea party, Reaganites, fundies, neocons, Randies, libertarians, etc are at each others throats, so will the various factions of cascadia emerge to paralyze this brave new nation.
No!! We're the United States, dammit! All of us together, a messy mixture of incongruous cats wandering in our own separate directions. We never all agree, but we have more in common than not. Our differences are mostly illusions created to keep us apart, as opposed to united together against the real bastards who are ruining it for all of us. I love the natural regions of Eastern Washington, just like the ones on the West, and I know there are quite a few hidden treasures in much of Red State America. And it's part of our history, you know? We didn't poison/hunt down/cheat/drive out all those Native Americans just so we could split the spoils because we can't agree to share. We even fought a war about this!
And besides, breaking up and losing our collective strength is exactly what the Russians want us to do, just like it happened to them. Do you want *those* bastards to win? Do you?
This is hilarious. The difference between Quebec and the Pacific Northwest is that Quebec, even though it has a liberal social contract, has their sovereignty delusions rooted in cultural chauvinism connected to their bastardized French language. The Bloc has vowed, since the 1995 referendum (failed 60 to 40 percent) that they won't attempt another separatist referendum UNLESS THEY CAN WIN. Which is not going to happen, because the fanatical attachment to the French Canadian culture is diminishing with each generation.
The Pacific Northwest doesn't have a similar unifying value- we have plenty of negative values, but you can't make up an ideology out of "anti-whatever" feeling. Not only that, it's not at all viable. In the US, regional identity does usually come ahead of national identity, but not enough to form an equivalent to the Bloc. We couldn't create or sustain a party dedicated to separation.
How much longer will John McCain be a Senator? Three years? Five years? Remember when we were all worried that Sarah Palin would be one heartbeat away from the Presidency? He can't last that much longer...
Cascadia as an independent country, maybe not. But western Washington, western Oregon and northern California as Canada's newest province (or annexed by BC) would be fine with me. We wouldn't have to build our single payer health system completely from scratch, former Oregonians would have marriage equality and maybe we could even vote out Stephen Harper.
What a stupid idea. I think the folks in favor of Cascadia need to get out of the city for once. Never mind going east, try north or south to the suburbs and float this idea.
The Urban Archipelago is alive and well. You're in the middle of deep blue surrounded by shades of purple and deep red.
#34, it is in the suburbs and rural regions that Cascadia has traction. Places like Noth Bend are where pro-Cascadia rallys are held. The purple and deep red think it will lead to them having a greater level of enfranchisement.
Most importantly, WA and OR at least (not sure about BC) contribute more in federal taxes than we get back in spending. Keep that money here and, along with power over our own monetary and fiscal policies (no need to be lashed to insane Tea Party austerity) and you have a recipe for a country that would basically be North America's Sweden. It's a good idea that will happen someday, perhaps within our lifetimes.
Also, Oregon's criminal justice system is as backwoods as they come, second only to Louisiana. No thanks.
let the Collectivism Sucks boneheads of America have their own nation to turn into a flag waving hellscape version of Putin's Russia. leave the PNW out of it.
@ 6 Why is it backwards?
@ 7 Lots of Democrats in this area but not all of us are progressive liberals, not right wingers but not progressives.
@12 I don't see that big of a difference, with some of the red states yes a difference but with the blue states no big difference. Plenty of the US not run by right wingers.
And besides, breaking up and losing our collective strength is exactly what the Russians want us to do, just like it happened to them. Do you want *those* bastards to win? Do you?
The Pacific Northwest doesn't have a similar unifying value- we have plenty of negative values, but you can't make up an ideology out of "anti-whatever" feeling. Not only that, it's not at all viable. In the US, regional identity does usually come ahead of national identity, but not enough to form an equivalent to the Bloc. We couldn't create or sustain a party dedicated to separation.
Dammit.
Otherwise - what @21 and @22 said.
The Urban Archipelago is alive and well. You're in the middle of deep blue surrounded by shades of purple and deep red.