Historians tend to say that Rome transformed from a Republic to an empire when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River with his armies.  There’s a specific date – January 10, 49.  But it’s not like Rome changed overnight, the result of one action.  Technically, it didn’t even “fall” on January 10.  That’s just a solid date to represent the change from an historical point of view.  There were many things before the 10th that led up to the crossing of the river and it took awhile AFTER the 10th for Rome to become an official empire.

In the same way, it’s possible October 6, 2018 will be noted by future historians as the day the curtain came down on the American Republic.  Like Rome, there have been many events that have led up to that date – it’s been a slow-moving coup.  And it seems foolish to imply that everything is different on October 7.  It will take time.  But in the future, October 6 seems like a nice, central date upon which to pin the end of the United States of America, the Republic and the beginning of the American Empire – the official empire, anyway…

The thing is, this once-great nation was set up to operate on good faith.  Good faith refers to honesty or sincerity of intention.  Really, in one way of thinking, once one party – the Republicans – decided to operate only on bad faith, the country was doomed.  Our founders didn’t include any mechanism in the Constitution to correct for pure bad faith from one party or the other.  Hell, they didn’t even anticipate “parties”…

I’ll tell you the truth.  Even as I’ve seen this train wreck coming, I’ve had difficulty truly believing the Republicans would actually destroy the country just to get their misguided way.  But really, conservatives have hated the United States almost since the day it was born.  They’ve been trying to undermine and disempower the Constitution going all the way back to Jefferson.  It seems they’ve finally accomplished the mission with this most recent abomination.  As of October 6, 2018,  Schlitz Kavanaugh is a member of the Sour Cream Court.  Barring what the Republicans call “2nd Amendment Solutions”, the Court promises to be an unbalanced, unhinged pseudo-institution for years, perhaps decades to come.

I have a new salutation: may you reap as you sow.  I offer it, now, to conservatives.  Their bad faith and overt corruption has finally brought this once-great nation low.  For the vast majority of us, the future is not bright.  I see you in your MAGA hats but  Trump and the Republicans haven’t made America great.  They’ve made it history.

Nice work…

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As a sidebar – the textbook kind, not the judicial kind – it might be a bit of fun to consider the possible permutations of how the future might play out on this land mass.  Of course, there are a LOT of variables but generally speaking, I see five, possibly four new nations replacing the one taking up space now.  This will be Hawaii’s chance to regain independence and Alaska is so far removed, I’m pretty sure they’ll either go it alone or go back to Russian control so the rest refers to the contiguous United States.

In the West, California will lead the way towards a nation that spreads east from the Pacific Ocean to include the Colorado River basin.  We need the water.  I think Oregon and maybe Washington State will go along willingly.  The rest?  Hey, California is a large, strong economy.  I think we’ll be able to field an army large enough to take and hold what we need…

I see the same happening in the Northeastern states.  The original northern colonies may well band together.  They, too, will enjoy enough economic power to defend themselves and with the failure of the American government, who’s going to stop them?  I could see them reaching across to the Dakotas.  Pennsylvania brings plenty of oil but with the find in North Dakota, it seems it would be prudent to get what they can while they can…

The South will, of course, finally be able to say they won a war they lost but have continued to “fight” for 153 years.  The Confederacy will rise again.  Talk about dedication to being wrong-headed!  They’ll still have to do it without their slaves so their future seems best described by the words ‘desperation’ and ‘poverty’…

The question for me is, will Texas go along with the larger South?  I don’t think so.  I think they’ll go back and get the territory that once was a larger Texas.  That included parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, and even Wyoming.  This, of course, will set up border skirmishes between California and Texas over the Colorado River water…

That leaves the flyover states.  Where will they end up?  Who cares?  Maybe they’ll end up representing the tattered remnants of the once-great United States.  More likely they’ll be absorbed – like it or not – by the nations developing around them.  They won’t enjoy the economic power to protect themselves so they’ll be pushed around for awhile before being controlled by one power or another.  Who knows, maybe Canada will take them…

Yeah, I know.  Talking about how the continent breaks up politically is pretty far-out stuff.  To be clear, I’m not saying this is how it happens for sure.  I’m just “noodling.”  It’s possible the map remains unchanged.  But when Rome fell, new countries formed out of the once Roman Empire.  When the Soviet Union broke up, new countries formed where once the Soviet Union had reigned supreme.  I don’t see any reason for the area that once comprised the United States of America to be any different…