After the Revolution – Part 1

One of the ZMan’s favorite phrases during his podcasts seems to be “after the revolution.”  This is usually followed by a comment about some benighted leftist finding out how the guillotine works, up close and personal.  Ouch!

But what seems to be a lot less easy to find is any thoughts about what would be going on after the revolution.  And maybe this is because the more hard-line folks on the Right have truly apocalyptic dreams for the world if things go their own way and it would be unwise to discuss the specifics in the open.  But really it’s because the Right is not a monolithic movement but a coalition of those who want to be free of the Left, there really isn’t one vision of what “after the revolution” would look like.

But I thought it might be interesting to think a little bit about what some of these visions might be and also what I myself would like “after the revolution” to look like.

Let’s start with the wildest visions of the really hard-core cases, something that would closely resemble what the people who made that new movie “Civil War” imagine people on the Right want as the future.

So, in this extreme vision of post-America the country would be divided into a bunch of independent countries that each is based on the regional ethnic make-up and political predilections.  The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic (including Virginia and maybe North Carolina) would be the rump USA nation.  It would be run by the same elite that currently runs the whole country.  I think it would also include the Great Lakes states, the Pacific northwest (with at least a part of California) and Hawaii.  Then the South would be its own country.  The Midwest would be another.  Some people think that Texas and the southwest (with or without all or part of California) would be another.  Maybe Alaska joins up with Canada.

In this setup whole ethnic populations would be swapped between these areas at least partially by force.  What the forms of government for these successor states would be is a subject of wild speculation by those who desire this drastic fate for the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.  But if such a division of the country and its people occurred it’s possible to imagine multiple forms of government.  Perhaps this time around, the Puritans will decide on something more explicitly oligarchic.  Maybe the Midwest will continue on with a representative democracy.  Maybe the South will get a king and the Southwest will decide to join up with Mexico.  Personally, this particular scenario sounds quite bleak to me.  But I hesitate to say that it is completely impossible.

But I think that reaching this scenario will involve maximal violence and destruction.  Millions of people will die and economic and social upheaval will devastate the whole continent.  And in this weakened condition, attack from external threats doesn’t seem far-fetched.

The next in line from most extreme to least would be a 50/50 split of the country between blue and red states.  Blue America would be similar to the Puritan nation from above.  Let’s say New England, Mid-Atlantic states with Virginia and North Carolina, Great Lakes states also including Michigan and Illinois, the whole West Coast, Nevada, New Mexico, possibly Arizona and Hawaii.  Everything else would be Red America.

As far as political systems, Blue America would be California on steroids.  No fossil fuels, no red meat, lots of cricket burgers and all transgender all the time.  Red America might be like what we had in this country before the 1960s.  Maybe it will include an amendment that allows states to secede at will.  I assume that both nations would be highly antagonistic and constantly sniping at each other about all the compromises that would have to be enacted because of the divorce.  They’d even be fighting over who would keep the name USA.  But since Amerigo Vespucci was part of the whole European colonial plot maybe the blue states can find some obscure native American (there’s that name again) term for the real estate.

I could actually see how this arrangement would be an improvement over our present situation.  Getting to this state doesn’t seem to be something that will happen easily or without copious violence.  So even this less drastic alternative isn’t my favorite scenario.  I’m certain there would be open war before the divorce occurred.

Tomorrow I’ll discuss some other scenarios including the one I favor.