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Voters in Scotland have turned down independence for now, but separatist movements continue across Europe, possibly threatening to dismantle Spain, France, and Belgium as well as the UK. The next milestone will be an independence vote on Nov. 9 in Catalonia, the region on the northeast coast of Spain which includes Barcelona; separatists are expected to win handily, but the vote is not binding on the Spanish government. Slate has a neat map showing what a completely redrawn Europe would look like, if accommodations were made for all movements that have joined a loose collective called European Free Alliance; a more complete but visually less satisfying map, including EFA holdouts such as Northern Ireland, appears in Wikipedia. The Washington Post has thumbnail descriptions of eight movements.
(Score: 2) by hash14 on Wednesday September 24 2014, @05:25AM
I completely agree with this. It is far beyond obvious that the US is too large and polarized to function as a proper nation.
On one side of the broad spectrum, you have clear-minded individuals who aren't really liberal by any absolute measurement, but are still more rational and sensible than the opposite far end of the spectrum. These individuals are still frequently corrupt or just downright stupid/pro-lawyer, but they might just pass as a politician from the far-right wing in another country.
Then on the opposite side, you have absolute, downright nutty morons whose positions are based on lunatic dogma including conservative radicalism, xenophobia, anti-literacy, religious fairy tales (with no respect for the tradition of non-theocracy in said country), a refusal to
accept anything remotely humanitarian or "socialist" (a term they don't even understand), and simple, stubborn obstinacy to be a jerk to everyone else. And many other reasons as well. While normal parts of the country are trying to invigorate science and technical literacy/education, these nutcases are trying to put fairy tales into science and history textbooks. And they're going completely backwards on environmental preservation and climate science, amongst many other political issues.
Naturally there are many more politicians in the middle as well who sometimes demonstrate enlightened decision-making and at other times, Neanderthalism. But these two extremes just cannot and do not operate cohesively and I honestly feel like it shows that the country would be better off if they didn't have to acknowledge each other. Of course the last few years shouldn't be taken as a trend for the indefinite future, the country is so polarized that they can't even pass common sense laws (see: net neutrality) or budget bills. And the best part of a break-up would be the (potential) dismantling of the surveillance and civilian oppression agencies who are protecting their underlings from free thought, justice, and civil liberties.
I could see the country broken up as such:
* East of New York
* Pacific Coast states
* Atlantic Northeast (Maryland and everything north)
* Western Great Lakes (Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and maybe Iowa - they could call it Monsantoland)
* Desert/Mountain region (Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona)
* South (the remaining shitholes nobody cares about)
This seems like the most logical division of geopolitical distribution that I can think of. There are certainly edge cases to be decided (states on borders which could go either way, and the question of what to do with all the other territories). Though I can also imagine potential dangers of this new world, like corporations economically sieging smaller nations into serving their dominion, but this is a start worth considering I feel.