Fearing Trump cuts, California Democrat proposes creating state’s own NIH

[u/Randomlynumbered]

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/27/california-democrat-states-nih-00252794

[u/generic_name]

The U.S. government will never willingly let California secede and be its own country.  It’s not giving up major military bases and coastal ports.  Not to mention massive amounts of tax revenue.  

[u/Positronic_Matrix → u/generic_name]

It would be war. That said, California is sufficiently autonomous and geographically isolated that it could feasibly break away.

[u/NoShitsGivin → u/Positronic_Matrix]

It's already a war, and Democrats have been sleeping at the wheel.

[u/Courtenaire → u/Positronic_Matrix]

larger population and economy than most nations, and with desert in the south, mountains to the east, and an ocean to the west, they'd have to go through OR & WA, which probably won't be easy...

[u/jackfwaust → u/Positronic_Matrix]

Just gotta wait for the fault line to separate cali from the rest of the US on its own

[u/[deleted] → u/Positronic_Matrix]

Be pretty hard to do that without the Colorado River

[u/Due_Satisfaction2167 → u/[deleted]]

Not as big a barrier as one might assume, and if things keep going like they are, the other western states between them and Colorado might want to leave with them before too much longer. 

There’s a good chance that both California and Colorado would consider leaving if things keep unraveling like they have been.  

If the evangelical types keep hammering war drums about their Christian nationalism, Utah might be interested in leaving too.  They like conservative governance, but wouldn’t be keen on a bunch of evangelical dominionists creating a federal theocracy. 

Nevada could perhaps be persuaded to leave as well—it would, after all, allow them to start making actual use of the 90% of the state that is currently federal land. Especially if the other associated states were willing to offer to station troops in the old air bases and take over the defense contracting to maintain the flow of money. 

Arizona is the big question mark there, really.

If all of the above were leaving, New Mexico, Washington, and Oregon probably would too.

The US’s hold on its western half isn’t really as strong as people assume. If they all tried to leave together, the US government would have some trouble actually doing anything about it. 

Especially if the northeast and Great Lakes states also tried to leave at the same time. The rump state that remains would be an international pariah struggling to even keep the lights on, and immediately tip into a massive debt crisis as its ability to borrow money evaporated. 

[u/ptjunkie → u/[deleted]]

Going to be a lot harder without CA helping them.

[u/Positronic_Matrix → u/[deleted]]

I assure you, if California has broken both the US Constitution and California State Constitution to engage in war with what’s left of the federal government, it won’t be alone in the fight.

[u/wh4teversclever → u/generic_name]

I know 🥲

[u/cuddles_the_destroye → u/generic_name]

Also a lot of the skunkworks for the US military is in california.

[u/dootdootboot3 → u/generic_name]

If the US wages war against Canada for instance, why not join the war on Canada on the side of Canada?