Free State

Free States is state quasi-independent status with respect to the United States government.

Overview
Texas was the first free state, although at the time the term had not yet been invented. The Mideast Meltdown of 1997 and the Drought of '98 put Texans atop a pile of riches, what with their offshore oil wells and extensive food production. This caused a lot of the money in the U.S. to flow into Texas as prices for these commodities skyrocketed. This, in turn, caused most Texans' federal tax burdens to jump by a similar amount, actually leaving Texans with less purchasing power than before. Late in 1998, Sally Ross (the senior Perotista senator), weary of U.S. tax structures, proposed the Ross Bill, which looked to overturn the normal legal precedence of national laws over state laws.

Although the bill was seriously considered by the state government, most thought it would not pass. In early 1999, however, the U.S. passed the Federal Weapons Statute. For the Texans, this was the final straw. The Ross Bill was immediately passed in a special session, and the Federal Weapons Statute was de facto declared invalid within the state's borders. This effectively placed national considerations secondary to local, thereby implying that membership in the Union was a matter of convenience for the state. Such a challenge to the Union had not been issued since 1861, and the government responded with immediate and surprising force.

Unfortunately, the national government ignored the fact that Texas held a lot of economic power. Threatening to secede from the Union, Texas cut off interstate shipments of oil, gas, food, and electronics, and stalled the American space program. Texas banks froze national assets and all electronic communications were subjected to severe scrutiny and censorship. Alaska, seeing a window of opportunity, joined the embargo, passing their own version of the Ross Bill in an emergency meeting of their legislature, and further tightening the national supply of food and fuel.

One state could be dealt with, but two powerful states proved to be too much. Strained by these actions, the government sought to avoid direct conflict. National negotiators quickly met with Texan and Alaskan representatives, and between them they managed to come to a compromise, which was the Free State system. This compromise kept the U.S. from fighting another civil war, but other states saw this compromise as the capitulation of the national government to states' interests. In the years following, California (backed by Texan and Alaskan representatives) declared itself a Free State, Nevada bought its free status outright (it is not publicly known how large the price tag was), and Utah was able to declare itself free, mostly because no one really cared whether it did or not.