In Praise of a Disunited States of America

The Nation Could Use More Declarations of Independence, and California Should Take the Lead

The further I drove into Oroville, the more disappointment I felt.

I had my passport with me, but no one asked me to show it. American flags still hung from stores along Montgomery Street. Homes near the Feather River were flying our state’s banner. City Hall had not been replaced by a new national capitol. And as hard as I looked, I could find no new standing army, or presidential palace, or the Oroville Food and Drug Administration.

It was as if the city council of Oroville, 70 miles north of Sacramento …

by Joe Mathews | July 3, 2023

Determining America’s National Myth Will Determine the Country’s Fate

The Ethno-Nationalist Vision of the United States Will Not Just ‘Slink Off Into the Night’

by Colin Woodard | February 22, 2021

Alexander Hamilton had no illusions about what would happen to Americans if the United States collapsed.

If the newly drafted Constitution wasn’t ratified, he warned in Federalist No. 8, a “War …

The British Are Anchored by an Islander Mentality

Unlike Mainland Europeans, My Country Can't Just Imagine Its Borders Away

By Lewis Reynolds | March 9, 2016

“You’re abroad then?”
“Well I’m in Berlin. I’m an hour and a half away.”
“We can’t put you up for a job when you’re abroad.”
“What if I was in …

What Do Gay Marriage and Obamacare Have in Common?

Two Cases Before the Supreme Court Point to the Long-Running Battle Between States Rights and Federal Authority

by Andrés Martinez | June 15, 2015

I don’t drink champagne, but if the Supreme Court strikes down state bans on gay marriages this month, I might pop open a bottle in celebration. As a newspaper editorial …

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