How would that work? State legislatures in targeted states would need to authorize their governors to form a reciprocity league, with a clause akin to that Article 5 deterrent in the NATO charter. If California targets Georgia, for instance, Georgia can impose a similar boycott on California. California has an advantage with its much larger economy, Turley argues, which means that Newsom and Sacramento can pass these policies with impunity.
What happens, however, when fifteen states immediately impose similar boycotts on California? Newsom’s economic impunity gets seriously challenged, if not evaporates wholly. And it might be more than fifteen states that would join such an alliance, too. After the 2020 election, Republicans had full control of 23 states while Democrats only had full control of 15. Democrats lost Virginia last year as a result of Glenn Youngkin’s victory in the 2021 gubernatorial election. Given that Florida and Texas would likely sign onto such an alliance — along with their respective and robust economies — boycott actions might lose some of their gloss, if not their current risk-free posturing.
Frankly, I’d just prefer that incompetent pols like Newsom stop posturing and mind their own state’s business — especially in a state as much in crisis as California. Newsom’s tossing out boycott threats to distract people from his own record of abject failure in the Golden State, and that of his party. If a red-state “NATO-like” alliance expedites that process, great. But it would be lovely to return to a time when governors remembered that they don’t dictate policy in states other than their own, nor should they.
What happens, however, when fifteen states immediately impose similar boycotts on California? Newsom’s economic impunity gets seriously challenged, if not evaporates wholly. And it might be more than fifteen states that would join such an alliance, too. After the 2020 election, Republicans had full control of 23 states while Democrats only had full control of 15. Democrats lost Virginia last year as a result of Glenn Youngkin’s victory in the 2021 gubernatorial election. Given that Florida and Texas would likely sign onto such an alliance — along with their respective and robust economies — boycott actions might lose some of their gloss, if not their current risk-free posturing.
Frankly, I’d just prefer that incompetent pols like Newsom stop posturing and mind their own state’s business — especially in a state as much in crisis as California. Newsom’s tossing out boycott threats to distract people from his own record of abject failure in the Golden State, and that of his party. If a red-state “NATO-like” alliance expedites that process, great. But it would be lovely to return to a time when governors remembered that they don’t dictate policy in states other than their own, nor should they.
Believe it or not, the Hill ran an op-ed by conservative pundit Jonathan Turley this weekend, headlined “
