Louisiana gets $1.78 back from the fed for every dollar they pay - if the government would fuck me like that, I’d be a happy man. You got the filet mignon, and California (which contributed $314B and received $260B) got a salad.
Here’s the thing that you don’t seem to be getting - it’s not important who employs these people, but it is damned important that somebody does. When jobs disappear from the state, the people who used to work those jobs don’t. You need to have other jobs for them to move into, provide some kind of social safety net, or let them die. You might be fine with the third option, but not everybody will be.
You realize that the people visiting Canada and Mexico go through customs, right? Customs is part of international travel - I just assumed your new country would police its borders the same way every other country does.
Regardless of your policy, travelers will have to go through customs and immigration to re-enter the US. International travel is a bigger pain in the ass than domestic travel. That’s why more Americans visit Florida than the Bahamas. If you take a travel destination and make it more difficult to visit, tourism’s going to decline.
You’ve mentioned it multiple times in this thread. You’ve never said how you plan to do it. I don’t think it’s feasible.
Never gonna happen. Unless you’re the unchallenged dictator in chief of the USSEC, I guess, but we’re talking about the real world. The voters you want to take with you disagree with you just as much as the voters you want to leave behind.
Love the name. Why wouldn’t oil be the foundation? And it doesn’t have to be a one trick pony. Low corporate taxes would drastically increase the wealth of the region.
Never said the government would. Even if it did, I wouldn’t support it. I never said Gumbostan would be my ideal country, just a better option.
As would every federal tax dollar. Even if the federal taxdollar coming in > the $ going out, I would happily make the exchange if it meant a balanced budget.
Good point. Don’t know what to do there, though I would be completely in favor of a military that is only sufficient enough to defend the land, not strong enough to nation build.
So does the FedGov. As big of a clusterfuck as LA politics is, I think we can handle ourselves better than the FedGov can, considering that we are just one of 50 in their eyes.
I don’t really understand this question.
Nope. I’ll never have a Libertopia. Just looking for a better option.
And which of these southeastern states do you believe would NOT be a Christianist, anti-abortion, and anti-homsexuality state on it’s own? Are you confident we wouldn’t see a sudden return of “sundown towns”? I sure ain’t. I trust the Federal Government to protect my rights and the rights of others far, FAR more than the government of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, etc, considering their track record. I’m terrified of giving those states more power.
Presumably a woman trying to get an abortion, or a homosexual person, who lives in Louisiana.
And I say please don’t. You seem to fear the Federal Government. I fear the state governments- especially these states. Over the last 100 years or so, the state (and local) governments have a much, much worse track record with regards to taking away freedoms.
This is as laughable as the idea from Nader voters that Gore and Bush were the same. They’re not.
Because you run into the exact same problem at the state level- why should people in Baton Rouge be making decisions that affect Alexandrians, or folks in Monroe? Why should people in New Orleans be making decisions that affect those in Kenner? Hell, you can take it too absurd levels- why should eastern Jefferson Parish-people be making decisions that affect people in western Jefferson Parish? I don’t understand at all this great trust and faith in the state and local governments- especially when one looks at their track record.
You and me and other Louisianans have the same ability to change policy- vote, advocate, run for office. Same as in other states. When your policies don’t win in the democratic process, that doesn’t mean it’s time to take your bags and go home- it means you need to advocate harder, run for office, get people to vote, etc.
For some reason a lot of people feel this law became intolerable right around the beginning of 2009. Interestingly none of the proposed seceding states have legalized medical or recreational marijuana or any other drug, and all of them have passed Constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. So… personal freedom.
Probably all, though that mostly shows up locally (by county/parish).
Probably all, which would be one of the unfortunate side-effects of the increased economic freedom.
No different than it is now, and no different than it is in much of the US, including bleeding heart California.
What about Maine? Or Wisconsin? Or Washington? Or Oregon? Socially, I suspect each of those states (among others) could do a much better job.
I do.
Do you not see the MASSIVE difference? What can I do to avoid the FedGov? If power were returned back to the states, what could you do to avoid StateGov? Think about it for a minute. Now do you see why I feel the way I do?
Ah, so you were saying Louisiana would claim all that oil. Right? The U.S. and the states/countries around Louisiana would disagree. So there is one reason the situation is different from the U.S. and Mexico and more like, say, Iraq and Kuwait.
No shit? And I support each of those stupid choices. Guess what, though? The FedGov is now fighting the RIGHT decisions by individual states regarding pot use. Return power to the states, and nothing changes with those making bad decisions; however, the states making the RIGHT decisions now have no opposition. Where’s the downside in that?
Never. And I never said LA was some bastion of social liberty (although NOLA would be). How does removing the FedGov from the situation change that for the worse or better?
Public school, private loans. I get that public schools are subsidized, but they would also be cheaper if they weren’t. Get the government out of the student loan business, and you force the general studies/art majors out of college. Drop the demand, and the price declines.