What next for Cascadia after historic elections?

There's no disputing that the US midterm election last week was a massive subduction zone earthquake in American politics. All of Trump's dreams of claiming voter fraud evaporated in a massive landslide victory by Democrats across the US. The Blue-nami swept through what were once thought of as safely red states, including Texas, South Carolina, Kansas, and most likely, Mississippi. In 2027, Democrats will have solid majorities in both the House and Senate. That's a relief, absolutely - it's nice to know a majority of Americans are fed up with fascism, high gas prices, stupid wars, and corrupt politicians profiting off their elected offices.

So what does this all mean for the movement for Cascadia autonomy?

First, the conditions that sparked many of us to call for political independence for Cascadia still exist. Corruption is happening in the open by Trump, his advisors, and his family. The feds are using the justice department to investigate opponents such as Ilhan Omar. The rule of law is being ignored – just look at the recent federal court ruling in Oregon that found ICE has lied and defied multiple injunctions demanding it stop kidnapping immigrants without warrants. Billions of dollars in Congressionally appropriated funds illegally cut off from blue states including Washington and Oregon remain to be returned. And our region still has a $51 billion tax gap between what we pay to the federal government and what returns in funds and services to our region.

But wait, you say: that's all going to change.

Well, the Democratic party had better start listening to voters, who are pissed off and want justice to prevail. Early signs aren't encouraging. The likely Speaker of the House, Hakeem Jeffries, believes ICE can be reformed and says his party should focus on accountability rather than what he calls "retribution" against the regime. Chuck Schumer, the comically ineffectual leader of the senate Democrats, is on track to become majority leader, even though most people in the party want a younger, more combative leader. You know, someone who only reaches across the aisle to issue subpoenas. Someone who'll fight for universal health care, impeachment, and an end to US support for Israel's genocidal war in Gaza.

There's lots of work to be done here in Cascadia. In Washington state, despite big wins for Democrats in the legislature and a successful defense of the millionaires' tax passed earlier this year, voters made the horrifying choice to ban trans girls from girls' school sports and demand girls as young as age 11 prove they have a vagina before playing. Luckily, Gender Justice League, the ACLU and Seattle schools have already begun to fight this stupid law.

Meanwhile, Trump shows no signs of contrition in the face of his party's massive defeat. He's standing behind Pete Hegseth, US secretary of WarFighting™ who survived an impeachment attempt thanks to Republicans and 11 Democrats who refused to vote to move his impeachment forward (including Marilyn Strickland, the avowed centrist who represents Tacoma and Pierce county). Trump also promoted fascist wannabe Stephen Miller to chief of staff, ensuring that the quotas Miller has demanded from ICE in the feds' cruel deportation campaign will continue.

Our demands remain the same: will the corruption end? Will the mass deportations cease? Will the feds stop withholding money from blue states? Will Trump and his loyalists stop using the justice department against political opponents? And when wil Cascadia finally have the fiscal independence to fund the things we need here in Washington and Oregon: universal heath care, an effective K-12 education system, paid college tuition, paid child care, and a shift to sustainable energy.

I hope the Democrats can start to turn the ship around. But the US is sailing into a hurricane and it's doubtful current leadership will grab the wheel.

We need our elected leaders in Cascadia to take bold "soft secession" measures to assert our fiscal and political independence. We need to establish a state public bank in both Oregon and Washington. We need to pass legislation proposed by state rep Willy Chotzen in Oregon that would withhold payments to the feds if they illegally hold back appropriated funds. We need state and local police to enforce mask bans on ICE goons and prosecute those agents who abuse their authority.

Many issues however, are deep and systemic and won't be addressed with simply replacing Trump. Addressing the $51 billion tax gap will mean drastically cutting the $1 trillion we currently waste every year on a bloated US military. The wildly undemocratic results of most US presidential elections could be addressed with a revived call to abolish the electoral college. But that doesn't fix the senate, which gives California, with a population of nearly 40 million, the same number of senators as Wyoming, population 588,000. Bless the Democratic Socialists for calling for an end to the senate. Will that ever happen? Let's just say I'm not holding my breath.

So, the movement for Cascadia autonomy continues. Cascadia Democratic Action is working on a legislative agenda in both Oregon and Washington for 2027. CDA developing a Cascadia Caucus that elected leaders and candidates can sign on to that advocates for building resiliency and fiscal independence here in the Pacific Northwest.

CDA is also moving forward with a short book that will outline the case for an autonomous Cascadia – along the lines of the Wee Blue Book published by the Scottish independence movement in 2014.

We're also making exciting plans for a new organization combining Cascadia Democratic Action and Cascadia Journal as a co-op that will preserve this newsletter's feisty editorial independence while also allowing us to build it into a news outlet that reaches readers across the greater Cascadia bioregion.

Non-mainstream news outlets will be critical up north too, as progressives in British Columbia face an incoming conservative government. There was another surprise electoral tsunami north of the 49th parallel, one that will usher in a party that wants to ramp up mining and logging, ignore climate change, eliminate consultation with First Nations, and rip apart BC's safety net.

We're going to need to stick together, Cascadia.

Celebrate the election wins. But don't stop fighting. And take time to keep loving our neighbors, friends, and family as we work to improve this beautiful region we call home.