Originally Posted by paulcg77

Just a point of fact, quite a few people in a surprising number of states have petitioned for secession just in the last decade. Various Texas movements and petition attempts have probably been the most aggressive and numerous in recent years (here's one: https://www.texastribune.org/2013/01...sion-petition/). No state legislature has seriously attempted secession since the early 1860's, and when that happened, 2% of the US population died, more than any other war in US history. To secede, a state legislature or a group of citizens can't just decide they're independent. They have to ask Congress and the White House and a constitutional amendment would need to be passed since there literally is no mechanism to leave once a state. Everyone from Congress to POTUS to the courts would have to agree to this.

Once you're in, you're in. With respect, this is why comparing anything with regard to a US state seceding with Scotland or Quebec is a false analogy. The UK and Canada do not have the case precedence or the legal framework to prevent secession if a Canadian province or Scotland/NI vote by referendum to secede. That isn't the case in the US, and so the only way out besides voluntary, absolute multilateral agreement is by violence, and I'm pretty sure that no matter how red a state is, the majority of the population in every single state in the union would prefer not to lose their social security, US citizenship/passport, etc., so even doing it as a political statement is worthless and mostly a PR stunt by the half a dozen or so organized movements that have petitioned the US government to allow their states to secede.