Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

The Secession Solution

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by

James A. Bacon
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by James A. Bacon

File this under the heading of Fundamental Governance Reform. In a recent edition of the “Utne Reader,” Kirkpatrick Sales makes the case that the optimal size of a successful independent state is somewhere between 3 million and 5 million.  By his logic, the United States is massively dysfunctional. Even Virginia is too big for its own good. (Maybe we’d all be better off in Northern Virginia did secede from the commonwealth!)

Were it not for the problem of national defense, I’d be all in favor of breaking up the country into smaller pieces. Fifty independent states would not do a very good job of keeping world sea lanes open for global trade. Otherwise, Sales’ argument reminds me of one that the urbanist Jane Jacobs once made (as I best recollect it), that maintaining a unitary currency, fiscal policy and monetary policy for a nation as diverse as the United States cannot possibly benefit all regions equally. Each region would be better off, she contended, it if could optimize its own mix of economic policies. Inspired by fiscal crises in the PIIGS countries, much the same debate is taking place in Europe today.

(Hat tip to EMR, who is too engaged in his “Enough?” project to do much blogging himself.)

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6 responses to “The Secession Solution”

  1. TMT Avatar
    TMT

    It is my understanding that Texas is the only state that has a relationship with the United States that would permit the existing state to divide into as many as five separate states. It took the bloody Civil War (War of the Rebellion) to create the situation where West Virginia was created by splitting Virginia. I would hope we never repeat that situation again. One civil war is more than sufficient for any nation.

    I would not want to live in a state of Northern Virginia as most of our problems have been self-grown. Most often it is our representatives to the General Assembly who cast the deciding votes to screw the residents of NoVA. And I still receive the benefits of RoVA’s general distrust of adding expensive government programs. Living in NoVA beats the hell out of living in Maryland or the District of Columbia.

  2. Hydra Avatar
    Hydra

    How about if we just redraw the Nova counties so each is a pie shaped wedge? Each wouldt get some of the “benefits” of Fairfax and Arlington, and each would get some of the disbenefits of pw, fauquier, and spotsy.

  3. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    I’m a skeptic as to thinking that the ONLY thing the Feds do that is really needed at that level is defense. From Interstate highways to cell phone and GPS frequencies to prescription drug standards and many others, we need a national uniform standard in order for many things to “work”.

  4. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    Seems like a legitimate idea to me. The author makes a good point. Very few “large” countries are well run. He cites Australia and Canada although they have fairly small populations relative to behemoths like the US and China.

    “I would not want to live in a state of Northern Virginia as most of our problems have been self-grown.”. Yes, having one of the highest per-capita incomes in the US along with some of the best schools in the US and a phenomenally low crime rate is just horrible.

    “Most often it is our representatives to the General Assembly who cast the deciding votes to screw the residents of NoVA.”. Now, that’s a fact! Most of our representatives to the General Assembly are sniveling little nerds who couldn’t hold a real job so they became part-time politicians. Not all of them but a lot of them.

    “Living in NoVA beats the hell out of living in Maryland or the District of Columbia.”. I have a place in Maryland and a place in Virginia. I’m not so sure of your bravado for Virginia. Maryland is pretty well run. Definitely more attuned to the environment. Higher per capita incomes. It’s not as clear as it might first appear. Are the taxes too high? Probably. But it’s still a pretty good place to live.

  5. Hydra Avatar
    Hydra

    Yes, when I was doing battle with my health insuror, Virginia basically tol me to take a hike. At the same time, Maryland was suing the same insuror for the same practices.

    It is not the taxes you pay that matters so much as whethter you get good value for what you pay.

  6. TMT Avatar
    TMT

    I appear to have been as clear as the Missouri River. Some elaboration is obviously necessary.
    “I would not want to live in a state of Northern Virginia as most of our problems have been self-grown.” NoVA representatives to the General Assembly provided the necessary margins to pass the 2004 tax increases that cost Fairfax County taxpayers more than $107 million for the first year, while bringing back just slightly more than $7 million in brand new state aid for K-12 education and enabling 49 Virginia localities to reduce their support for public schools the next fiscal year.
    It was NoVA politicians and business leaders who were silent when the CTB adopted a policy of foisting most of the costs for building Dulles Rail on Dulles Toll Road users and who acquiesced in the Commonwealth’s refusal to look at competitive bids for a tunnel at Tysons.
    It was the Fairfax BoS that has routinely accepted more development plans than the county’s public facilities could support. It is the same BoS, along with the School Board, that has violated county policy by not re-evaluating the cash proffer target for public schools each year. “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

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