The Quiet Breakup of America

From Rachel Hurley’s Facebook page, Sept. 5, 2025:

You probably remember Marjorie Taylor Greene ranting about a “national divorce” between red and blue states. What you might not realize is that the divorce is already happening - blue states just aren’t bothering to send the papers.

While political pundits debate whether America is headed for another civil war, something much quieter is unfolding. It’s called so secession, and it’s not about drama c declarations or turning state and federal law enforcement on each other. It’s about Democratic governors holding encrypted video calls to coordinate resistance, attorneys general filing lawsuits within hours of federal orders, and states quietly building parallel systems that make federal authority irrelevant within their borders.

The infrastructure for this resistance didn’t appear overnight. Oregon is stockpiling abor on medica on in secret warehouses. California sits on $76 billion in reserves and gets to decide how to deploy it. Illinois is exploring something called “digital sovereignty” - whatever that means, but it sounds expensive for the feds. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey told MSNBC her state police would “absolutely not” help with Trump’s deportation efforts. She’s not bluffing, and she doesn’t need to be. The beautiful irony here is that conservative Supreme Court justices handed blue states the legal framework for this resistance on a silver platter.

The an-commandeering doctrine from cases like Printz v. United States means the federal government can’t force states to implement federal programs. Justice Scalia wrote that the feds “cannot require states and localities to carry out its immigration policy.” Those conservative justices probably never imagined blue states would use their own legal precedents to ignore federal authority, but here we are.

Blue states have been practicing so secession for years without calling it that. Twenty-five states refused to implement REAL ID requirements starting in 2007, delaying enforcement for nearly two decades. During Trump’s first term, Democratic attorneys general filed over 130 multistate lawsuits with an 83 percent success rate. They maintain “brief banks” with pre-drafted lawsuits ready for immediate filing - the modern equivalent of how Northern states coordinated legal resistance against fugitive slave laws.

The economic leverage is extraordinary. Blue states are what economists call “giver states” - they send far more tax revenue to Washington than they receive back in federal investment.

Massachusetts sends $4,846 more per capita to the federal government than it receives. New York contributed $142.6 billion more than it received over five years. The total transfer from blue to red states exceeded $1 trillion between 2018 and 2022. That’s not a typo. Blue states are subsidizing red states to the tune of $1 trillion, and they’re getting tired of it.

Democratic lawmakers in Maryland, New York, Connecticut, and Wisconsin have introduced bills directing state officials to withhold payments to the federal government if federal agencies act unlawfully or withhold funds previously appropriated by Congress. These aren’t hypothetical protest votes - these are operational blueprints for financial warfare.

The concept isn’t entirely new. Northern states used personal liberty laws to make the Fugitive Slave Act virtually unenforceable between 1780 and 1859, with only 330 slaves returned despite federal law. What’s different now is the scale and coordination.

Three sources on daily Zoom calls between Democratic attorneys general say the same phrase keeps coming up: so secession. Red states figured this out long ago. Eleven states call themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries” and refuse to enforce federal gun restrictions. Texas has been practicing so secession for decades, cherry-picking which federal policies to implement. The difference is that blue states have more money and better lawyers. We’re watching states quietly walk away from each other. Blue states will protect abortion rights, support organized labor, and defend individual rights. Red states will embrace Christian theocracy, suppress wages, and criminalize dissent. The federal government will become just a hollow shell that states ignore when convenient.

The Adams County Sheriff case in Washington illustrates how far this goes. The state Attorney General is seeking an injunction against a sheriff for cooperating with federal immigration enforcement, arguing he’s violating state law. Local officials must choose between federal directives and state law - the same dilemma Northern officials faced during the fugitive slave era. Democrats get nervous when you use the term “so secession.” They prefer euphemisms like “resistance” or “federalism” or “uncooperative federalism.” But call it whatever you want - the result is the same.

States are building independent systems that render federal authority meaningless within their borders. The leverage is real. California alone sends over $500 billion annually to the federal government. What happens if California’s franchise tax board “accidentally” delays federal transfers? The Treasury starts bouncing checks. That’s not how federal financing works in theory, but in practice, cash flow matters.

This isn’t about ideology anymore. It’s about math. Blue states produce the majority of tax dollars that keep the federal government operational, while red states consume the majority of federal benefits. When that relationship becomes untenable, something has to give.

So secession represents a fundamental shift toward a confederation of semi-autonomous regions rather than a unified nation-state. Whether that’s good or bad depends on your perspective, but it’s happening regardless. The ques on isn’t whether states will continue walking away from each other - it’s how far they’ll go before someone notices the federal government has become irrelevant. I mentioned in a previous post this week that if you are a liberal and live in a red state - you might want to consider moving. Why? Because what should be clear by now is that no one is coming to save you. Blue states are circling their wagons and saving themselves.

#ratcclips (a shortcut to find Rachel Hurley’s posts on Facebook) Rachelandthecity (the name of Rachel Hurley’s Substack account)