Imagine an America without Washington, D.C. Not bombed out or burned down, just… irrelevant. No more lobbyists swarming the Capitol, no more federal bailouts, no more donors and takers, red tape and red ink. Just fifty fully autonomous states—each its own experiment in governance, innovation, and survival—linked only by a shared military to defend the borders. Everything else? Local.
This isn’t a call for secession or civil war. It’s a radical decentralization—a reset to the idea that government should be closest to the governed.
The Premise: No More Federal Middleman
In this model, the “United States” exists purely as a military alliance, a shared defense pact against external threats. Beyond that, each state becomes entirely self-sufficient and self-governed—crafting its own infrastructure, energy policy, healthcare, education, and economy.
No more “federal oversight.” No more one-size-fits-none mandates. No more D.C. bureaucrats regulating rainwater collection in Arizona or shrimp quotas in Louisiana.
Every state must stand or fall on its own merit.
Economic Sovereignty: Ending the Donor–Taker Divide
Right now, federal redistribution creates tension between “donor states”—often coastal and industrial—and “taker states” that receive more in federal funds than they contribute in taxes. That’s a polite way of saying California pays for Alabama’s highways and New York pays for Mississippi’s schools.
In the new model, those days are over. Each state funds its own government entirely through local taxes, regulates its own trade, and manages its own budget. Prosperity would be earned, not inherited through federal subsidies.
Would wealthy states thrive while others struggle? Probably. But competition breeds innovation. The best-run states would attract citizens, talent, and business, while mismanagement would drive reform—or exodus.
Freedom of Experimentation
A decentralized America would become the largest living laboratory of democracy ever conceived. California could pursue universal healthcare and a green energy utopia. Texas could go full libertarian, with low taxes and private everything. Vermont could embrace communal living; Florida could ban pants altogether.
Each state becomes a social, legal, and cultural ecosystem reflecting the will of its people—not the demands of a distant Congress.
If you don’t like your state’s laws, move. Vote with your feet. Let migration, not litigation, be the arbiter of success.
A Nation Without a National Religion
A curious byproduct of federal power is the illusion of a shared “national identity.” Without it, states could reclaim their own culture, faith, and ethos.
No more national debates over abortion, marijuana, or prayer in schools—those would be state issues. Religion would return to where it belongs: personal conviction, not political cudgel.
Patriotism would shift from flag-waving nationalism to pride of place—a revival of the city-state spirit, the idea that you serve the community you actually live in, not a distant abstraction called “America.”
Infrastructure and Innovation
Infrastructure would no longer hinge on congressional pork or federal grants. States could privatize, regionalize, or nationalize (state-ize?) their roads, airports, and power grids however they see fit.
Interstate collaboration would happen by treaty, not decree. If Oregon wants to link its grid to Washington’s, great. If Texas wants to go it alone, that’s their choice—and their blackout.
The result? Fifty different models of governance competing for efficiency.
The Great Recalibration
Of course, such a system would come with enormous risks. Poorer or smaller states might falter without federal support. Disparities could widen. Corruption might bloom in the shadows of independence.
But consider the alternative: a bloated federal system in perpetual gridlock, where progress is stifled by polarization, and the political elite grows ever richer while local voices fade.
Maybe the solution isn’t “fix Washington.”
Maybe the solution is to make Washington unnecessary.
Fifty Laboratories, One Shield
The shared military remains—the one unifying force. States fund it proportionally, and it serves only defensive purposes: to protect the continent, not to project power abroad.
No more trillion-dollar wars to “spread democracy.” No more global policing. America, at last, minding its own business.
A Post-Federal Dream
Is this vision utopian, dystopian, or simply overdue? Maybe all three.
But it forces a fundamental question: what is the purpose of government? To control, or to serve? To homogenize, or to empower?
A post-federal America wouldn’t be easy. It would be messy, competitive, wildly diverse—and maybe that’s the point.
Because beneath the noise, the flags, and the slogans, the soul of America has always been about one thing: independence.
Maybe it’s time we finally took that idea seriously.
Harry Knapp
Harry Knapp is a visual artist and filmmaker in California.
"Survived Hollywood’s circus. Now I juggle art, existential dread, and bad decisions. Enlighten me, if you’re still reading."
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