Unfortunately even archive is cut off for me, that’s all I get:
At a moment when even the prospects of dialogue seem far-fetched, movements to redraw state lines to link like-minded regions, or even to secede from the union, are gaining strength.
The revolution begins with a poetry reading.
Last month, a journalist turned organizer named Andrew Engelson invited friends and fellow Pacific Northwesterners to a small club in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood for an evening of verse, in which his guests would ponder what it means to be from “Cascadia,” the bioregion stretching from Northern California, through Oregon and Washington, into British Columbia.
Odes to volcanoes, woods and rivers would help the audience reach the same conclusion he has: The region might be better off leaving the United States.
Mr. Engelson and his group, Cascadia Democratic Action, are trying to drive conversations that could lead to 2028 ballot measures in Washington and Oregon on secession if things don’t improve. The effort is hardly an outlier in these Disunited States, where frustration on both the left and right has created small but vocal collections of Americans so fed up with feeling disempowered that they’re talking about redrawing state lines or dissolving them altogether.
“The salmon don’t pay attention to the 49th parallel,” Mr. Engelson said, referring to the U.S.-Canada border. “I have way more in common with someone in Vancouver, B.C., than someone in Arkansas.”
Separatism is “in the zeitgeist,” said Ryan Griffiths, a Syracuse University political scientist who wrote the 2025 book “The Disunited States: Threats of Secession in Red and Blue America and Why They Won’t Work.”
Activists in Texas and California continue to push independence. Lawmakers in inland California have pitched splitting the state in two, or three. Organizers in southeastern New Mexico want to join Texas.
Unfortunately even archive is cut off for me, that’s all I get:
At a moment when even the prospects of dialogue seem far-fetched, movements to redraw state lines to link like-minded regions, or even to secede from the union, are gaining strength.
The revolution begins with a poetry reading. Last month, a journalist turned organizer named Andrew Engelson invited friends and fellow Pacific Northwesterners to a small club in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood for an evening of verse, in which his guests would ponder what it means to be from “Cascadia,” the bioregion stretching from Northern California, through Oregon and Washington, into British Columbia. Odes to volcanoes, woods and rivers would help the audience reach the same conclusion he has: The region might be better off leaving the United States. Mr. Engelson and his group, Cascadia Democratic Action, are trying to drive conversations that could lead to 2028 ballot measures in Washington and Oregon on secession if things don’t improve. The effort is hardly an outlier in these Disunited States, where frustration on both the left and right has created small but vocal collections of Americans so fed up with feeling disempowered that they’re talking about redrawing state lines or dissolving them altogether. “The salmon don’t pay attention to the 49th parallel,” Mr. Engelson said, referring to the U.S.-Canada border. “I have way more in common with someone in Vancouver, B.C., than someone in Arkansas.” Separatism is “in the zeitgeist,” said Ryan Griffiths, a Syracuse University political scientist who wrote the 2025 book “The Disunited States: Threats of Secession in Red and Blue America and Why They Won’t Work.” Activists in Texas and California continue to push independence. Lawmakers in inland California have pitched splitting the state in two, or three. Organizers in southeastern New Mexico want to join Texas.