Opus 2020-242: A Time That Has Come

I want to see an experiment.  I want to see how it would work to establish some city states.  I have mentioned it before but I think the time is golden.  I have three naturals for the experiment.  They are all easy to isolate, their politics would make them willing to be separated, and they are literally hell holes.

I am thinking of Manhattan Island, Seattle and San Francisco.  The first is an island and the others are on peninsulas.  They all have access to the sea.

It doesn’t need to be permanent.  It could be a twenty year experiment.  Then we could reevaluate.  At that point they might be glad to become American again but we might be so glad they are gone that we would not even consider it.

If it went well we might give other cities a chance to vote on City Statehood.  I would suggest Portland and Chicago as good candidates.   

Certain provisions would be necessary.  I would suggest that the United States not cede the immediate shore lines.  They would need to maintain control of a few feet to make sure that we don’t have a tax free Singapore on our hands.  They could have no rights to the waterways around them.  I would give them an easement to travel through but not the right to restrict travel or trade by the remaining Americans.  I am sure there would be a number of institutions that would need to move out before they were isolated, but that is doable.

Of course they would have their own passports and there would be tariffs on products moved in and out.  

It is a conversation that we need to have.

homo unius libri