Map of the Future

It's rough, all I had was Microsoft Paint, but here is our future:

The Second Civil War; and the comming Bolivarian Utopia.

Currently, in California, a cadre of arch-conservative political operatives are engineering a Constitutional Crisis, and setting up the beginning of another Civil War.
The same men who brought us the recall election and who had ties to the swift boat fiasco, have instigated a petition for a proposition in the coming election. This proposition (as yet un-numbered), if passed, would apportion Californian electoral votes proportionally, instead in the traditional winner-takes all model.
Now, if every state in the Union were to do the same we might finally end up with something approaching a direct popular vote for president. But if only California passes this law it will mean that some percentage of California’s votes will go to the Republican candidate, I’ve heard estimates of 22 votes, or the equivalent of Ohio. That’s enough to assure a Republican victory in anything but an absolute Democratic landslide, even if the Republican candidate loses the popular vote by a significant amount.
This in itself is horrible: for the second time in three elections we would get a president who lost the popular vote (unprecedented in US history), and by a potentially significant percentage. But what’s more, there is already an emerging legal battle. The democrats are denouncing the proposition as unconstitutional, pointing out that the constitution only allows the state legislatures to pass laws about how to apportion electors. The Republicans will surely counter that the California legislature has passed laws stating that the California electorate can choose how to apportion electors (the initiative system) and that therefore they did make a decision, though in a removed way.

The result of this will be another election decided by the Supreme Court.

Now consider the apocalypse scenario, always a favorite of this blog: The continuing unpopularity of Bush, coupled with repeated Republican scandals and the outing of Newt Gingrich as also gay, lead to a tremendously low Republican turn out. In contrast a Democratic all star team of Obama for President, Hillary for VP, with Edwards as Secretary of Labor, Richardson as Secretary of State, Biden as Defense secretary, Kucinich as Secretary of Peace, and Gravel as White House Chief of Staff, win a resounding victory for progressivism.

But with California’s crazy new law Fred Thompson still wins the presidency in a decision handed down by the Roberts court.

Marches on Washington ensue. Mayor Bloomberg throws his money and political clout to the liberal side, Trump wants independence for New York. In Seattle Bill Gates declares that the next President will be a complex algorithm he's been working on. Google agents, deployed for months in the field, begin the final information revolution. The oil companies want their own oil puppet state in Alaska and maneuver towards Alaskan autonomy. The farmers of central California take the opportunity to establish a semi-feudal order. Wall Street hires Blackwater as its private force and begins establishing ultra-capitalist law in parts of New York, Chicago and San Francisco: you will be shot if you give your change to a bum.

Walmart is the only force for cohesion in the entire country, and the only thing we can agree about; its CEO comes out in favor of the Old US and begins to raise a redneck/trailer trash army to defend America.
The Michigan militia comes out in favor of Thompson, the Oregon Militia in favor of Obama. The regular Army, bogged down in Iraq proves ineffectual. The Generals split on who to support. The Governors of Texas and Arizona call up all reserve and guard units in a double effort to absolutely seal the Mexican border and ensure domestic tranquility. Montana and North Dakota do the same with Canada. Now Wyoming Controls the nuclear silos and California controls the naval and fighter power.

Topping everything off, the big one hits LA and SF at the same time. To ensure that anarchy does not break-out all the way up and down the earthquake devastated West Coast, Governer Schwarzenegger devolves control of Edwards Air force base and Vandenberg to the state. China offers aid and sends its Navy to US coastal waters; the Europeans offer their support to the Liberal Powers; Japan with its new conservative government weighs in on the Conservative side; Mexico calls for all Mexican nationals in the US to arm themselves in preparation for the coming race war and masses the Mexican army along the Southern border. Malcolm X rises from the grave.
Thompson from a highly guarded White House issues calls for calm, but there is talk of a secret service coup. Obama and Hillary have set up a shadow White House from the Capitol and continue to demand that Thompson end the constitutional crisis by resigning.
Once the entire country has become a tinderbox, ready for igniting, the crazies come out: California separatists, demanding independence for the Republic of Pacific, form guerrilla bands in the Sierras and raid the small towns of Nevada. Zorro comes back to the San Joaquin Valley. The reconstituted Army of Virginia declares that the South is indeed rising again and threatens to take Washington if independence is not granted. Race riots occur all through the south. Alaska secedes, as does Hawaii and with it half the US Navy. Texas splits in thirds, the south declaring allegiance to Mexico, the north to the US, and the middle to the Lone Star Republic. The Indian reservations unite and begin raids on any nearby white populations. The Mormons declare the independence of The Mormon Republic of Greater Utah and prepare for siege (that's why they have all those silos).

The country has disintegrated.

Mexico reclaims all of the Rio Grande Valley through Santa Fe, southern Arizona and old Tejas; the West Coast becomes independent under Presidente for Life Schwarzenegger; New England and upstate New York join Canada; the Confederate States of America re-emerge as a major military power; Las Vegas declares itself as the Autonomous Anarcho-Capitalist Freestate of Bellagia; only the plains and the Mid-west remain loyal to the Old US, emerging from the break-up as the United States of Middle America.
In New York, now an the independent City-State of Newest York, diplomats from the regional powers strive to avoid chaos, but conflict looms over the continent. It is rumored that President Romney of the Mormon Theocracy is meeting with, Premir of the Province of New England Hillary, Generalissimo Bush of Texas, Confederate President Jeb Bush, Presidente Calderon of Mexico, the prime minister of Canada, Dictator Schwarzenegger and the enigmatic guerrilla leader Commandante Obama, at the palace of Lord Guiliani, in a last ditch effort to broker some sort of European Union style confederation.
But Middle American President Thompson will not be denied. Having sung Dixie for the last time and crying a solitary tear for his beloved Tennessee, he orders a nuclear strike on the North's ancestral enemy.

General war overtakes North America.

Years later, Hugo Chavez leading the Army of South America, restores peace; conquering what were once the NAFTA States in the name of the Bolivarian Republic of the Americas. A Spanish speaking socialist Utopia is created which dominates the world for the next 1000 years.

This is what I’m predicting for the 2008 election. Remember, you heard it here first.

The Trouble With Alaska

Since at least the late Fall of 2000 when like minded scholars and thinkers at large began contemplating the possibility of a transnational Western North American Secession from the NAFTA states ("The Pacifica Secession"), these selfsame scholars and thinkers at large realized that the crux of successfully leveraging the Pacifca Secession against the combined economic and military will of the NAFTA states would be securing that 'Last Frontier' Alaska. However crudely, this key concern is illustrated in the graphic below. Namely: They are different then Us.

But what is the reason for this arctic quagmire? If they’re going to be bothersome, why include them anyway? Certainly, if they need to be convinced, or, dare we say, coerced, are they really worth having? Would it not be counter to the ideals set forth in the very notion of an independent Republic of Pacifica? Unfortunately, the Trouble with Alaska is that they are strategically vital aesthetically and economically, and are therefore a socio-political roadblock to the mere notion of a Free Pacifca. As is often the case when an author iterates key concerns in a linear statement, these three key concerns are best addressed in the order in which they appear. It is the hope of this collection of notes to reconcile this conundrum for the betterment of the Republic.

Aesthetically:

Can there be such a thing as a Free Pacifica, if such a union extends only to the Yukon Territory? Consider the abrupt end at the ~60th parallel to what should be such a graceful arc extending to the furthest reaches of the Aleutian Islands. One can already imagine the well founded inquiries of 1st graders throughout the school districts of this already abortive republic, decrying our obvious failure as they trace the manifest destiny of such a beautiful arc extending from Cabo San Lucas northward: “Why not here [Alaska], too?” Indeed. Why not here too?


Economically:

Vital resources: Oil; Wildlife, the Airline, “Grandma went to ___ and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” industry, the northern flank to secure a monopoly of all Asian-American shipping routes. The new Republic will thrive on its vast natural and cultural resources including the specialized labor of the tech sector, the breadbasket/cash machine of the San Juaquin Valley, the Hollywood/Vancouver film industry, and of course, what will prove to be the backbone in several senses of our economy, gaining a monopoly on veritably all shipping routes to the NAFTA States via the three major ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, San Francisco/Alameda, and Seattle. Once this veritable monopoly is secured, we will create a key committee whose job it will be to enforce a system of tariffs on all goods being shipped through The Republic to the United States, Canada, or Mexico, assuring that the Republic can maintain it's monopoly against the rival Panama Canal shipping lane. To achieve this, the committee must regularly figure the cost of shipping through the Canal to the eastern seaboard of the US, Canada and western Mexico, and undercut this cost by a significant margin while still providing the Republic with a sizable income for all cargo traveling through its borders. Of course, for this plan to work, at least two liabilities need to be addressed: constant vigilance including a seditious lobbying campaign, and/or sabotage against the establishment of a competitive west coast Mexican port that is adequately connected to the transportation network; and the possession of Alaska as a territory to assure that Anchorage is not converted to a super-port tied into the transportation network via the Northwest Territory of Canada, forming that long sought after and mythical ‘Northwest Passage’. The same can of course be said of the oil reserves that are found in Alaska that will be equally valuable as both an energy source and a marketable commodity to the Republic of Pacifica (which may consider joining OPEC), clearly valuable as leverage against the oil thirsty United States. It should also be noted that if the shipping monopoly becomes impracticable, holding Alaska as real estate to be bartered to the United States in return for military security, economic benefit or wads of cash may be a prudent option, especially considering the political leanings and sexual frustrations of most Alaskans which are generally foreign to the hoi polloi of Greater Pacifica (see infra).

Socio-Politically

Here of course is where a good deal of the trouble arises with Alaska. They are a bunch of conservative, sexually frustrated, gun-toting men, who could throw a serious wrench in the active consensus making of our new like minded republic and are moreover not afraid of bears, a species that will prove to be a key military asset in both The New-Revolutionary War and Counter-Insurgency strategy for Orange County and Outlying Regions. However, it is the belief of the author that the more extreme ursine measures that may prove necessary south of the “Citrus Line” (as Maximilien Robespierre once said “Pity is treason”) will not be necessary for our Compatriots in The Land of the Midnight Sun. Rather, by enacting the following measures, the familiar attitudes of the Pacifican Spirit can quickly be inspired in the hearts of our Alaskan Comrades.

Women

The ratio of men to women in Alaska is several percentage points below the 'national’ average. If the odds of scoring a mate are slim in the first place, you are going to be partial to a restrictive, conservative social more that will support your good fortune blessing of sexual communion. Therefore, as a Republic we must counter with a substantial disincentive for this behaviour. First order of business: send a coalition of the willing up there, true first-class patriots to relieve some of that sexual tension.

Birth-Right Pilgrimages

Without endorsing the Nation of Israel, the Republic could follow the lead of those Zionist indoctrination programs that sponsor trips for any Jew to visit Israel. In this way, send native Alaskans down to LA, SF, or TJ for a debauched educational two weeks, thereby solidifying their allegiance to the cultural centers and sentiments of their New Republic. This government subsidized travel would also support the massive leisure sector during the transitional instability while borders with the NAFTA states would necessarily be sealed as a security precaution (we cannot depend solely on the Germans and the Japanese during the adolescence of this new, More Perfect Union).

Build a Nueva Las Vegas in the Alexander Archipelago

Let us face facts folks. We want Las Vegas anyway. We eliminate it as a competitor, and then build a new one on one of the islands south of Juneau. The Alaskans get another wildly profitable market, there already is an established cruise based tourism infrastructure on the corridor, and it will still only be 3 hours to Vegas by air from Los Angeles (which can also be initially subsidized to get the ball rolling).

It is my hope that with these shortsighted and preliminary considerations in mind, we will be able to negotiate The Trouble With Alaska, and secure the More Perfect Union in the name of The Republic of Pacifica, indeed, a Repulbic From Sea to That Same Shining Sea!

Addional Reading of a Lost page retrieved from google as a cached page: The Nation of Pacifica

Split Personality

In the hopes of alleviating some of the schizophrenia that this blog suffers from I'd like to announce that in the coming Republic of Pacifica LOST will be the official national television show. Just as countries can have national anthems, national flags, mottoes et al LOST shall be required viewing for all citizens of Pacifica in the hope of inspiring greater national unity, and in order to instill a common sense of values in our people. I know that John Locke is the obvious choice to be the moral leader of our country, but I think that there is much to be learned from the teachings of Sayyid and that Desmond is a true prophet whose word should be studied by learned men.

On the other had, we should burn effigies of Jack in the street on our independence day.