This isn’t really true internally for Russia. The USSR collapse was the result of the greed of the government officials who are now the Russian oligarchy (in collaboration with some Ukrainian officials IIRC who wanted to break away from the USSR?). The USSR didn’t even have a stock market, and the “government” installed one for the specific purpose of allowing government officials to buy up major parts of the economy to become billionaires practically overnight while they caused a major economic recession to ensure that nobody else could profit from the short entry window because they were too busy selling off their heirlooms to buy bread. It’s called Shock Therapy, and the Russians flew out at least one or two Wall Street execs in order to help them set the whole thing up. Modern Russia operates a lot like the US (at least economically).
A US dissolution would be very different. The USSR had one country that dominated everything. When it broke apart, Russia alone still represented an overwhelming majority of the former Soviet block’s population, economy, etc.
That really isn’t the case with the US. The largest state, California, only represents about 11% of the whole US population and a bit more on the economy. California would not dominate a post-dissolution US the way Russia dominated the former Soviet block. The big US states would be more the first among equals than the 800 lb gorilla in the room.
You’re assuming that people act in their own interests. Conservatives will happily ruin their lives because an oligarch told them to. Just look at Brexit. Or…literally anything that happens in Republican states.
Yeah I think a breakup of the US would result in several successor nations. The 50 wouldn’t remain independent for long. But that does illustrate the key difference between this and the case of the USSR. It’s likely that such successors would have a much more equal share of population and economy than the post-Soviet case.
Though, another key difference is the history the US has for Constitutional conventions. Let’s imagine the federal government goes away completely. By whatever means, 50 states are now independent nations. And as you note, after awhile most will get tired of being small tiny nations of little international clout. Now, one option would be the formation of new nations, perhaps formed from the regions of the old US. But there would also be folks running around calling for an entirely new Constitutional convention. Just a complete rewrite. And it is tempting to say that things are so contentious now that there’s no chance the US could ever ratify a new Constitution. But, any Constitution would have to be adopted unanimously. This would be someone trying to get 50 independent states to merge. Each one individually could still say no. Which means that any new Constitution would be moderate and also structured with the kinds of grand bargains and compromises it took the original one to pass. If especially the new independent post-US states had some time to cool off, I can imagine after a few years a new movement to create a new Constitution would get going. There’s already clear historical precedent for it.
If the US falls apart, I would expect it to be a very bloody affair. Not just red state vs blue state, but also city blue against countryside red. The trauma of that would likely be sufficiently deep to keep folks apart for a couple of hundreds of years.
The soviet union doesn’t exist anymore and didn’t require killing millions to end it.
deleted by creator
Good Lord, your education system is truly fucked
Depends which area of the union you are looking at. Poland is doing pretty well for themselves now.
Poland was not part of the USSR.
True, but it didn’t help them much.
deleted by creator
This isn’t really true internally for Russia. The USSR collapse was the result of the greed of the government officials who are now the Russian oligarchy (in collaboration with some Ukrainian officials IIRC who wanted to break away from the USSR?). The USSR didn’t even have a stock market, and the “government” installed one for the specific purpose of allowing government officials to buy up major parts of the economy to become billionaires practically overnight while they caused a major economic recession to ensure that nobody else could profit from the short entry window because they were too busy selling off their heirlooms to buy bread. It’s called Shock Therapy, and the Russians flew out at least one or two Wall Street execs in order to help them set the whole thing up. Modern Russia operates a lot like the US (at least economically).
A US dissolution would be very different. The USSR had one country that dominated everything. When it broke apart, Russia alone still represented an overwhelming majority of the former Soviet block’s population, economy, etc.
That really isn’t the case with the US. The largest state, California, only represents about 11% of the whole US population and a bit more on the economy. California would not dominate a post-dissolution US the way Russia dominated the former Soviet block. The big US states would be more the first among equals than the 800 lb gorilla in the room.
deleted by creator
You’re assuming that people act in their own interests. Conservatives will happily ruin their lives because an oligarch told them to. Just look at Brexit. Or…literally anything that happens in Republican states.
Yeah I think a breakup of the US would result in several successor nations. The 50 wouldn’t remain independent for long. But that does illustrate the key difference between this and the case of the USSR. It’s likely that such successors would have a much more equal share of population and economy than the post-Soviet case.
Though, another key difference is the history the US has for Constitutional conventions. Let’s imagine the federal government goes away completely. By whatever means, 50 states are now independent nations. And as you note, after awhile most will get tired of being small tiny nations of little international clout. Now, one option would be the formation of new nations, perhaps formed from the regions of the old US. But there would also be folks running around calling for an entirely new Constitutional convention. Just a complete rewrite. And it is tempting to say that things are so contentious now that there’s no chance the US could ever ratify a new Constitution. But, any Constitution would have to be adopted unanimously. This would be someone trying to get 50 independent states to merge. Each one individually could still say no. Which means that any new Constitution would be moderate and also structured with the kinds of grand bargains and compromises it took the original one to pass. If especially the new independent post-US states had some time to cool off, I can imagine after a few years a new movement to create a new Constitution would get going. There’s already clear historical precedent for it.
If the US falls apart, I would expect it to be a very bloody affair. Not just red state vs blue state, but also city blue against countryside red. The trauma of that would likely be sufficiently deep to keep folks apart for a couple of hundreds of years.