It’s called an enclave. Spain has at least two parts of provinces which are completely surrounded by another province, as well as a town that’s completely surrounded by France (Llivia).
All suggestions noted and accepted, including the CO-NM enclave of the Far Left (thanks, Nava!) I have to go now, but will recap later with the new definitions later, and incorporate further adjustments others may have. DE is in the Goddam Libruls, btw.
Florida at and south of the I-4 corridor isn’t particularly Southern except in the central area near Lake Okeechobee where no one lives anyway. Maybe the I-4 corridor on down south could merge with PR to form Caribbiana.
Phew! For a moment there I feared for the disappearance of such an important state.
Merciful Og, Florida’s 35th on the list! I thought we were richer than that! 
It was there in my first listing; you just didn’t notice it. Actually, it is a rather important state, certainly disproportionate to its geographic size. I’m sure we Goddam Libruls are proud and glad to have it.
You mean, aside from us? Oh, right, they wouldn’t have to worry about that. Never mind.
OK, revisions:
Goddam Libruls remains the same: ME, NH, VT, RI, CT, Southeastern NY, NJ, MA, DE, Eastern PA, Washington DC, northern VA.
The Rust Belt: Northern OH, MI (may secede to Canada), Northern IN , Northern IL, the rest of NY and PA.
Appalachia: Southern OH, Western VA, WV, Western NC, KY, TN
Dixie: Southeastern VA, eastern NC, SC, GA, FL north of Rte. 4, AL, MS, LA, AR, southern MO.
Caribbeana: FLA S. of Rte. 4 - FL and PR. Spanish speaking, primary industry is tourism.
Fantasy World: A tiny state like the Vatican, located in Orlando, containing Disney World and the surrounding high-tech entertainment complex.
Heartland: Southern IN, Southern IL, MN, WI, IA, Northern MO, ND, SD, NE, KS
Oil, Guns n’ God: TX, OK
Natural Wonder: MT, ID, WY, UT, AZ, maybe NV, and AK
The Far Left: CA, WA, OR, maybe NV. Enclaves: NM and CO, and HI
I think Oil, Guns n’ God is a little scary, but as the smallest nation, and surrounded by the most like-minded folks, they’re probably fine.
There’d be some rather automatic alliances that might fall apart in the long run, but would be there at the beginning, I’d think. The Goddam Libruls and the Rust Belt. Dixie and Appalachia. Appalachia and the Rust Belt. The Rust Belt and Heartland. The Goddam Libruls and the Far Left. Guns, God n’ Oil and Dixie. Guns, God n’ Oil and Natural Wonder. Heartland and Natural Wonder. Every one of these nation states would be capable of being self-sustaining, but every one would be better off cooperating with the others.
It’s a fascinating thought experiment!
ETA: I forgot the tiny independent Jewish state in the midst of the Miami suburbs: the English speaking Zion. It’s primarily a retirement community. Other faiths would be permitted, but it would be a heavily Jewish demographic.
Not a chance.
In the event postulated here, California rapidly has a boom, as all the other nations on the Pacific Rim and others vie for trade rights with the Bear Flag Republic.
But I don’t give it more than 10 years before the government collapses.
When was the last time the state had a budget on time?
When was the last time it had a budget surplus?
You can only appease all the special interests for so long before you’ve got to cut into something that people are willing to fight, figuratively or literally, for.
But the political machine in the state of California is so busted that if it had to stand on it’s own, it would fall apart.
Do you think my nation state of the Far Left might do better? That is, CA, OR, WA, HI, and possibly NV (they’d hold a referendum), with an enclave of CO and NM.
From here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_between_U.S._states_and_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)
At least 13 states would be smaller (GDP-wise) than the Dominican Republic. The DR will be almost the same size as Delaware. Florida will be smaller than Indonesia but slightly bigger than Australia. Half the former states would be smaller than Nigeria; and North Dakota and Vermont would be smaller than Zimbabwe.
Interesting. No data for Puerto Rico though.
ETA: the data is from 2005, things have probably changed since.
Late to the party… maybe the discussion will be revived; maybe not.
As for military assets … don’t you think that they would be redistributed in some manner? Not so easy with missile silos, but what about ships and aircraft.
Would it be more likely or less likely that the whole US would break apart or that one or a group of states would secede?
Was seccesion dealt with once and for all as a legal issue after the civil war?
When was the last time it became an independent nation?
Seriously, we’re stubborn, but we’re not that stupid.
There was a Supreme Court case, Texas v. White (1869).
I personally think that Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and maybe Colorado would join forces. The Mormons would mount their own militia again, and downtown Salt Lake could become the center of the new Deseret. There would probably be some resistance to the new Mormon overlords, but places like Park City, Sun Valley, and Denver (Denver may become a second capital) could form their own enclaves within the new nation-state where the outsiders and non-Mormons could settle. They’ll mostly be left alone because tourism will be absolutely critical to the nation-state.
Once a powerful militia is formed, Deseret will mostly keep to itself, until they conclude it’s necessary to take Montana. They’re biggest fear will be the invasion of the Bear Flag Republic. If those fears increase enough, the enclaves mentioned before will be driven out, since they can’t be trusted to not be spies.
If California is going to have water issues, what’s stopping California from separating itself into NoCal and SoCal?
Two immediate effects:
- The NFL would be screwed
- Sarah Palin would have to go back to work memorizing the countries in NAFTA.
In all seriousness though, I can’t see the 50 states finding a reason to break up completely, especially when so many neighbors are fairly compatible. If anything, the example posited above with the country breaking up into a few like-minded smaller countries seems much more viable. Just don’t give Oklahoma to us (Texas). >___<
I keed, I keed
Besides all the obvious ones already pointed out, New Jersey is on the top of the list of lowest amount of Federal funding received compared with taxes paid. For every dollar in taxes paid they get back $.62, they can’t help but do better alone.
In contrast Mississippi and New Mexico would go down the shitter (even more so that is).
I think Alaska isn’t as self sufficient as they like to pretend, but they have oil so they’ll be alright in the short term.
And what happens when northern Cali blows up the hydro tunnels through the Grapevine?
SoCal would get pretty dry and crispy without all that Central Valley water it has been sucking down …
Why would they? Aside from being a casus belli, SoCal is an enormous market for NoCal’s agriculture. It’s to NoCal’s advantage to keep those tunnels open, perhaps charging municipal governments (maybe provincial governments?) through the nose for the use of that water. This would motivate SoCal to conserve water and find other sources, which can only be good. If they develop a cheap source of power, de-salination would be an inexpensive source of water, and California just happens to be a coastal state. They could become a net exporter of water to the desert-ish states of AZ, NM, NV, and UT. You hear a lot about Silicon Valley tech, but the LA area has one heck of a lot of tech development going on too.
I could see Northern California terrorists/fanatics doing it, whether or not California was an independent nation. But it would be an inordinately stupid thing for NoCal to do to SoCal as policy. Producers are as dependent on markets as markets are on producers, and alienating your biggest customer is just not wise.