People DO live there, and you know it. My objective isn’t to scare; it is to be realistic. Portland is incapable of policing its own streets. How in heck do you think Portland is going to conquer places like La Grande, Baker City, Pendleton, John Day, and Burns as examples? Those cities are populated by tough, patriotic, and resilient people who stick together and take care of each other. They are simply not going to become a part of a breakaway country. The blue areas can do what they want, but they will have to leave the red areas out of it. The people in those red areas simply won’t let themselves be absorbed into some new country, and there is nothing the blue areas can do about it. I don’t think those blue areas would be capable of using force, but any attempt to do that would fail. Those rural people would fight, and Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and L.A. would quickly find that they were running out of food and fuel. That is not macho bluster. That is just being realistic. I am a retired cop, although I work part time.
Not true at all. You are the 1st to ever use the term in this thread. Posts are easy to go back and review.
"What should be the response to secession?" I guess it depends if you support Democracy or "one nation under god indivisible". I support Democracy so secession ought to be viable. But you can't quit the mafia and the rules are pretty much the same as the US, ie. once you've sold your soul to the devil .....
I'm sure those things will be a great comfort to you, in your landless apartments in your urban hells, when the food and water runs out.
In a Democracy, if you don't represent your population they should be able to walk away. In a Fascist state, however .....
I never said they shouldn't be able to, just that if they did it would disastrously stupid. Like, a whole new tier of stupid would need to be created and named, and everything else despite being incredibly stupid would look a little less stupid by comparison.
Democracy (a good Democracy) includes an education (a good education). If your people are given a good education then they will make the best choices and if secession is their choice then there's nothing "stupid" about it. If they are not given a good education then their choices will be "stupid" no matter what they choose. This brings us full circle back to the crux of the issue - your issue - and your comment (providing not the tinniest supportive motivation) is the "stupidest" of all. 1). Educate your people 2). Give them Democracy 3). Offer them an array of political philosophies and politicians to really represent them 4). Sit back and watch your country flourish and the quality of living improve .... and there will be no more "stupid".
