When comparing today’s bitter politics and the runup in the 1850s to the Civil War, Freeman sees “more echoes than parallels” and cautions against taking the analogy too far.
Emphasis mine. The echoes are definitely concerning, and I’m not qualified to say we’re not heading towards a civil war (and there are other signs besides), but I wish journalists wouldn’t bury the lede and emphasize the doomerism.
They were banking on having slave labor, if they had won. The modern red states, likewise, do not have the wealth/resources required to sustain themselves apart from the blue states. It would be economic devastation.
Texas might be the only one that could survive separation
It’s one thing to have local resources and manpower, quite another to have management that knows how to use them wisely. Texas has most of the first and, just going by the state of everything else, absolutely none of the second.
Even their famously “independent” power grid would fail as soon as they were blocked from purchasing from the national grid.
And good luck trading in that locally printed secession money for power or other goods . . . but I would bet real dollars that the most actual discussion and effort going into the new currency will be in regard to whose face gets to be on it, and the portrait used for same.
The ruling class in Texas has been handed success on a platter for so long – ranching, oil, excess land, etc – that they genuinely believe they created it. They’d be the first to leap at secession and the first to be absolutely devastated by it.
Well that’s kind of what I meant by they could be the one to survive of the others. They have natural resources, shipping ports already operating on the Gulf, and a decent localized economy. Sure they’d run themselves into the ground with policy and nonsense, but they’re positioned much better than other southern states, and that’s all I’m saying; if they pulled their heads out of their asses, they’d have a better fighting chance than their neighbors.
Emphasis mine. The echoes are definitely concerning, and I’m not qualified to say we’re not heading towards a civil war (and there are other signs besides), but I wish journalists wouldn’t bury the lede and emphasize the doomerism.
Fuck, man. We need a little good news.
If the losers try to quit America again, the bitter loss while clutching their idiotic beliefs will be sweet schadenfreude.
They were banking on having slave labor, if they had won. The modern red states, likewise, do not have the wealth/resources required to sustain themselves apart from the blue states. It would be economic devastation.
The red states can’t peel away. Imagine red Illinois leaving and trying to drag Chicagoland along.
Texas might be the only one that could survive separation, but it’d be a stretch at best. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, etc would be up shit creek.
It’s one thing to have local resources and manpower, quite another to have management that knows how to use them wisely. Texas has most of the first and, just going by the state of everything else, absolutely none of the second.
Even their famously “independent” power grid would fail as soon as they were blocked from purchasing from the national grid.
And good luck trading in that locally printed secession money for power or other goods . . . but I would bet real dollars that the most actual discussion and effort going into the new currency will be in regard to whose face gets to be on it, and the portrait used for same.
The ruling class in Texas has been handed success on a platter for so long – ranching, oil, excess land, etc – that they genuinely believe they created it. They’d be the first to leap at secession and the first to be absolutely devastated by it.
Well that’s kind of what I meant by they could be the one to survive of the others. They have natural resources, shipping ports already operating on the Gulf, and a decent localized economy. Sure they’d run themselves into the ground with policy and nonsense, but they’re positioned much better than other southern states, and that’s all I’m saying; if they pulled their heads out of their asses, they’d have a better fighting chance than their neighbors.
I see your point and it was well taken to start with. Mine wasn’t a hard disagree, sorry it came off that way.
I just truly never imagined a Texas where its leaders had heads that weren’t shoved well up their own asses.
All good man. It’s a trip to even consider it a possibility, yet here we are.
Can we please please just let them leave this time