July 16, 2003

Can We Force a State out of the Union?

So, I was reading this (hat tip: Accidental Jedi), which of course happened in California, and it occurs to me that while we cannot carve up a State without its consent (article IV), and a State cannot secede (the Civil War settled that question), I don't see any reason why the rest of the States could not just get together (in the form of the Senate and the House voting) and boot California right out of the Union. Other than good harbors, and the grousing of the people who'd move back to the US and miss the climate, what exactly would we be losing?

Could we trade California to Canada for the western provinces? Canada's population and economy would go up, and the US and western Canada would end up being a better match for each other than we are for California and eastern Canada.

Just thinkin'...

Posted by Jeff at July 16, 2003 08:56 AM | Link Cosmos
Comments

I'm more worried that Quebec will eventually secede, the Maritime provences will fall apart, and we'll end up with the 51st state of Prince Edward Island.

Posted by: Eric Jablow on July 16, 2003 11:06 AM
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