I think it was only in 1870 that what we think of as Germany today was finally united into one unit. Italy has a similar history of being a bunch of smaller states being sucked into the whole.

Our Constitution was a follow-on to the Articles of Confederation, a loose compact among many semi-sovereign individual states.

If push comes to shove (and I'm afraid it will) I see the US breaking up into smaller chunks. One EMP bomb wiping out Washington's data bases may be all it'll take.

And we (Michigan) have something like 20% of the planet's fresh water. I think I'll stay here.