Despite the central government in Madrid sending in their stormtroopers to rough up peaceful voters, the Catalans voted for independence from Spain.  Good for them.

Similar to the the failed Scottish independence referendum a few years ago, we hear from conservatives that the politicians who would rule Catalonia are Leftists that want to remain in the EU.  Since Leftism and the EU are bad, they should stay part of Spain.  Nonsense. It’s not like Spain is thinking about leaving the EU anyway.  The Catalans are valuable to Spain because they pay more in Federal taxes than they get back in government spending.  They’re richer than the rest of Spain so that seems to be why the government of Mariano Rajoy has chosen violent suppression rather than persuasion like we saw in the UK for both Brexit and Scottish Independence.

Of course even if they were dirt poor, I doubt very much they would be let go. Governments rarely allow people under their control to leave peacefully if they can stop it.  I just don’t think Madrid would be acting quite so desperate as they seem now to stop secession were Catalonia not the most prosperous region of their realm.

Well get used to it.  There will be much more of this in the years to come.  The various ethnic and linguistic groups in Europe, the true “Nations” on that continent rather than the multicultural States we know today, will increasingly look to go their own way.  And some will seek to leave the European Union.

I’m totally in favor of this, and I hope it can be done peacefully.  An independent Catalonia or Flanders or Venice isn’t worth dying for.  But it’s certainly worth fighting for.  Smaller states are more responsive to the will of their citizens, they tend to stay out of unnecessary foreign wars, and they waste a lot less money.

There is no reason why the borders of the various tax jurisdictions across the Western world currently in place have to stay in place forever.  That includes the USA.