The Disunited States of America

Sometime in the not-too-distant future, after decades of political screaming, constitutional improvisation, economic panic, cultural warfare, and televised experts pointing angrily at maps, the United States finally decides it can no longer stand itself. Congress passes the Peaceful National Dissolution and Interstate Yard-Sale Act, allowing every state to become an independent country. The bill passes at 3:17 in the morning because most members of Congress believe they are voting to rename a post office.America does not collapse in battle. It separates through paperwork.The fifty states become fifty sovereign nations, each free to choose its own government, currency, military uniform, national anthem, immigration policy, official sandwich, and definition of freedom. Some remain recognizable American republics. Others become socialist commonwealths, corporate kingdoms, religious states, communist collectives, military regimes, digital democracies, environmental sanctuaries, celebrity monarchies, and heavily armed homeowners' associations with coastlines.