What if we made the federal shutdown permanent?
As the federal deadlock between the GOP and Democrats continues, mostly over extending subsidies that keep Obamacare affordable for millions of people, the government shutdown has me thinking about changing views of federalism and how this could change things for those of us who live in Cascadia.
Let me be clear: I believe government has a duty to help provide essential services for our well-being: public education, transportation, utilities, and health care among them. So, I'm no minimalist when it comes to government. But maybe states that value such things as universal health care (like Oregon and Washington, which have both funded commissions exploring options to get there) should be allowed to do those things on their own.
And yes, I get it: technically, they already can. But what I mean is: without Cascadia having to foot the bill for an incredibly wasteful US military and immigration enforcement system.
What would it mean to extend the federal shutdown and just eliminate the federal government altogether? Or at least become a more loose confederation like the European Union? Of course, Republicans, who use a lot of Big Words about smaller government won't go for that – because they want our tax dollars for their massive investments in masked secret police and detention centers, a nearly $1 trillion military budget, and a new ballroom and 24k gold decorations in Emperor Trump's White House.
It's been interesting to see shifting views on federalism. From the 1930s to the 1960s, the federal government, responding to the Great Depression, World War 2, and the need for a social safety net that states were neglecting to provide, grew substantially. In addition, the movements for civil rights, women's rights, and LGBTQ rights turned to the federal court system to assert those constitutional rights.
But today the GOP has used flaws in the US constitution to take power as a conservative minority federal government opposed to policies the majority of Americans support. It's set up an increasingly authoritarian style of rule through masked police, threats to use the military against progressive cities that Trump calls "the enemy within," weaponized indictments of political opponents, attacks on independent, critical media, and a neutered court system.
Just yesterday, Project 2025 author and the feds' budget director, Russell Vought, announced on social media that the Trump administration plans to withhold $8 billion in clean energy funding to a list of states – all of which are "blue"– meaning a majority of their residents didn't vote for Trump in the last election. That's clearly using the federal government in revenge against one's opponents.
Why would Washington and Oregon stay in what has become an abusive relationship with the United States? Why should Cascadia continue to send at least $37 billion more in federal tax dollars to the other Washington that never return to us in services or funding?
Dissolve the United States. If we need some sort of military for defense, okay, fine we can provide our own or join NATO or some other Pacific Rim treaty organization if we wish (since Trump seems intent on leaving NATO anyway). We don't want to fund a stupid war on Venezuela or the next misadventure Trump cooks up to distract us from his corrupt government or his own legal problems and moral failures.
--Andrew Engelson
