Domestically Run, Internationally Focused: How the Right should approach the art of statecraft and institution building
Red State BRICS When?
A Sales Pitch
The Year is 2027. After good electoral performances in 2025 and 2026 as a result of backlash against the Biden Administration, the GOP has control of 35 governorships, has control of 32 state legislatures and GOP trifectas make up a majority of the electoral college. After losing the 2024 presidential election primary to Donald Trump, Florida governor Ron Desantis decides to spend the last 2 years of his tenure to focus on ways to decrease soft power of the federal United States government and help foster a unique sense of co-operation and fraternity among red states, claiming in a private letter that “Assuming that I am to run again, I want my state government and states which are like minded to come up with a framework of reliance and co-operation amongst themselves, to the chagrin of the Biden administration”. After doing some legal research, he ends up stumbling upon an edited wikipedia article that a staffer of his wrote in 2023, titled “The Memorandum of Republican governance”, shown below.
Thinking that a mutual economic and security bloc among red states, done through a non-binding memorandum, would be a perfect solution, Ron immediately vows to spend the last two years in office he has before potentially taking a shot at running again to forge a permanent legacy: to have his state and like minded states be players on the world stage.
Hold on? Is this legal?
As far as I have researched, the functions that this memorandum would serve are legal and can be implemented right now, at least in theory. A judge might decide otherwise but since when have great statesman and leaders let judicial review stop their plans?
What exactly would be the purpose of something like this?
Its rather simple. Imagine a mixture of the EU and the Shanghai Co-operation Organization, except for the time being it is done through a legally licit memorandum, whose collaboration is fostered through revenue sharing agreements and co-operation with state agencies. When the GOP has a trifecta, they could make it a legal and binding interstate compact if they so choose. This would be done for the purpose of making an entity that is fiscally mostly independent of the need for federal aid and for economic and military investment/aid. The idea would be that if one state declares a statewide emergency within the agreement, all other states would pledge aid. If one state has an economic disaster or accident, every other partner within the memorandum would come to their aid. Also the memorandum would include pledges to work on interstate projects. Texas alone has 113 billion dollars in general state tax revenue to spend, so imagine an entity with double, triple or quadruple that sum of money to play around with. It could theoretically hold international summits with foreign nations for mutual investment and could solidify a common identity among the right leaning part of America that could solve some of the disparate factionalism among the right.
Wouldn’t it be a good idea to spend political capital in another, less confrontational way?
The contemporary dissident right is averse to spending political capital in just about any way and don’t forget that you can work on multiple political projects at once. It is possible the Federal Government might foster a backlash to such a move but you shouldn’t let that phase you.
Why would this get recognition on the worlds stage?
There are several non-overtly hostile nations to the US who would likely be sympathetic and willing to treat this organization like it was a major power bloc. Italy and its populist government, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Japan, could be willing to negiotiate deals of mutual military and economic investment with this proposed pact. This also means in the event of a political crisis involving this pact that would warrant a measured response, it would have people who would diplomatically back it up.
Thats all! Peace out!
-Dark Age Consultant
It sounds nice but I doubt countries like Japan and Poland will seek intimate ties with this bloc just because it is right-wing because doing so will inevitably strain their relation with the US federal government, especially considering the defense of those countries is still in a very large part dependent upon Washington.