Califoreignia Dreamin'

In order for America to emerge from the fourth turning as a federation of confederations, the transition will need to begin soon. Due to our crisis of presidential leadership, it is suddenly conceivable that the watershed event triggering a complete geopolitical realignment of these United States is now before us.

Photo by Roman Avdagić

That event would be the passage of a ballot measure aiming for California to secede from the union. Once California passes their measure, the secessionist urge will snowball to include several more states. Depending on the popularity and success of the YesCalifornia movement, there are several other states with long-standing secessionist movements likely to follow suit. These include Hawaii, Texas, Vermont, and New Hampshire, all being spurred on by the election of DJ T-Rump. Washington, D.C. will not be able to prevent these departures because there is no component of the U.S. military that will agree to take up arms against any of the states, especially California. Especially under this Commander and Cheat.

As the states peal off, natural alliances will form with compatible neighbors. Eventually, some will consolidate into confederations. There is already some interest by Oregon and Washington to make common cause with California in backtracking America's manifest destiny. There is no telling which states will comprise the U.S.A. once the dominoes have fallen, but states are the natural level of fragmentation since they already perform most of the same functions as their parent government. We may end up being the Divided States of America, but more likely we will become just a less perfect union, with a semi-authoritative coordinating body like the Organization of American States.

The YesCalifornia blue book provides answers to many questions regarding their initiative. The nine main points on their homepage bear some resemblance to positions taken by the Green Party, e.g. shrink the military budget, provide universal health care, protect the environment, and extend access to immigrants. Or, YesCalifornia may morph into something more in the image of Peter Thiel, though he doesn't have much time before they put the measure on the 2018 ballot followed by a plebiscite to finalize the divorce by March 2019.

Plans for the California's national Independence Day fireworks are rumored to include their own damn satellite rocket.