I know I am a little behind on all of this, but I have recently come across a few facts that have brought the debate of secession into new light for me. If you don't what I am talking about, or if you have forgotten about the issue (because it was from a few months ago, and let's face it, in today's world your memory is only as long as it takes to click a hyperlink or set a microwave,) I am talking about the rather stupid and short-sighted temper tantrum that many Americans threw after the re-election of President Barrack Obama. There was a sudden rush on secession petitions as if they had just gone on sale at Wal-Mart. Everyone in America started signing petitions to secede from the Union, (because that has worked so well in the past.) Speaking of the past, you can revisit it by checking out this article, on the issue I am discussing.
However the truth of the matter is that even if they were serious, most attempts to secede would fail miserably even without government intervention. States like Louisiana and others rely more on the Federal government than most people realize. Without the yearly influx of cash that the Louisiana receives from Washington every year, their poverty problem would quickly spiral out of control and the new country of Louisiana would be bankrupt within months of declaring its independence. However this is not true of all sates signing petitions. In fact it turns out that my state, New Jersey has a pretty goo chance of not only succeeding as its own country, but maybe even flourishing.
Now, during this unadulterated hoopla of moronic fervor my own state, New Jersey, had more than 10,000 signatures on a petition to secede. Now that may seem like a lot, but take into account that the population of New Jersey is almost 8.9 million people. At the time I didn't pay much attention to this display of idiocy because I knew it was just people being people being reactionary. As Newton said for every action there is an equal but opposite overreaction. (I think that was Olivia Newton.)
So let's for a minute do a thought experiment and investigate the state of the new nation of New Jersey. Now, of course to buy into this, we need to suspend a little bit of disbelief, logic, and the fact that if NJ tried to leave the Union we would be swarmed immediately with death drones raining destruction from on high, (because the United States is a lot like the mafia or a college fraternity, once you're in, the only way out is through drone strikes or alcohol poisoning.) So let's ignore those factors for now and just look at the straight up facts.
New Jersey pays more into the Federal budget than it gets out. For instance, in 2005 New Jersey paid $77 billion dollars to the Federal government and only received $55 billion back. That means that (on average) for every dollar of NJ tax money that got sent to Washington the state only received $0.61 back. It's the largest Federal tax disparity of all the states in the Union. When it comes to the Federal funds, NJ, as of 1981, has never been higher than 48th in rank of Federal per capita spending, with the majority of the time NJ ranking 50th in the US. That means we tend to be last in consideration for any sort of Federal money, (apparently even for hurricane relief.) Yet, along those lines, NJ has one of the highest tax burdens in the nation, partially due to the fact that Federal Tax liability is not adjusted to New Jersey's higher cost of living.
This actually means that if New Jersey were to become its own country, the NJ government would have more money to use for its budgeting, and could set fairer and more balanced tax laws that better represent the average New Jerseyan instead of the average American, (who right now is standing in a field in Iowa.) This of course seems good on the surface, but on the flip-side the government will need that extra money to fund matters of the new state, such as printing money, military defense, and of course the NJ Space Program, (NJASA,) all things typically handled by the Federal government. So, for now, let's just say the gain is detracted by the new costs and it roughly equals out to about the same.
Now we need to take a look at how Jersey, as a new independent nation, would stack up against the world. The results are surprising:
Area: New Jersey would be a relatively small country in terms of land mass with only 8,721 square miles., but not the smallest. It would rank as the 152nd largest country coming in as only a few miles smaller than Belize (8,867 sq mi), but still larger than El Salvador (8,124 sq mi.). It also means that we are still bigger than countries such as: Trinidad and Tobago (1,980 sq mi), Jamaica (4,244 sq mi), Kuwait (6,880 sq mi), Israel (8,020 sq mi), and (ironically) Jersey (45 sq mi) (Our original UK island namesake)
Population: Despite our small size new Jersey has a population of 8,864,590, which means we have roughly 1189 people per square mile. That is the highest population density in the US. As an independent county, that means we would be the 91st most populated country, falling between Azerbaijan (9,235,100) and just inching out Burundi (8,749,000). There are more people living in New Jersey today than there are people living in Denmark (5,602,628), in Finland (5,432,100), in Norway (5,075,100), and in New Zealand (4,458,500)... We have better food too.
Gross Domestic Product: New Jersey's current GDP is $497,000 per year, which is the 7th highest in the nation. If we were independent it would mean we would be ranked 23rd in the world with a GDP higher than Iran (488,300,) but not higher than Norway (499,800.) Of course this number can't be accurately predicted because the very act of becoming an independent country would send our GDP into flux according to the market and either devalue or increase the value of our exported products. By the way, we have a lot of exported products.
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| Pictured Above: 8 illegal immigrants to the Nation of New Jersey. They will have to be captured and sent back to the US. |
We also have vast tracts of agriculture in the state (more than even the average New Jerseyan realizes,) and that make us one of the second highest exporter of blueberries in the United States. We are also third in cranberries and spinach, and fourth in bell peppers, peaches, and head lettuce. New Jersey also harvests the fourth-largest number of asparagus acres in the US. We are also the only place to get Jersey Tomatoes and Jersey Corn.
However, our biggest export (you may be surprised to hear) is refined petroleum. NJ has the largest oil refinery industries outside the Middle East. We also have one of the largest pharmaceutical industries in the United States. Jersey also has success exporting jewelery, airplane parts, perfumes, and printed books.
Now, I am not advocating seceding, in fact I would recommend against it. First off it is treasonous, and illegal. I have always considered myself an American citizen before a New Jerseyan and nothing will change that. Also, New Jersey only has 9000 National Guardsmen. In any sort of meaningful conflict with the United States Army, we would probably get stomped flat, but it's fun to think about what the country of New Jersey would be like. It would probably be a rough transition at first, but once we settled down everything would actually turn out fine, at least until the New Jersey Civil War breaks out between North and South Jersey.
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