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How to Defend Democracy One State at a Time

Laura Flanders speaks with Christopher Armitage and Sumathy Kumar about “soft secession” and building a government that actually works for people.

The courts are issuing rulings that the Trump administration just ignores. And the Supreme Court is going along with it. The federal government is captured, and the resident of the White House is running amok. Worse could well be coming, but something else is happening, too. One of my guests calls it the largest coordinated campaign of state-level opposition in modern American history. States are using the tools that they have in the federal system to oppose what they see is as wrong. Some are considering new legislation that would add to that toolbox. Organized people, meanwhile, are acting defiantly, making clear demands, electing new leaders, and staying engaged in ways that could strengthen our democracy and our economy. What happens next is crucially important, and that depends largely on what people believe can be done.

Christopher Armitage is the founder of The Existentialist Republic on Substack. His handbook, Oppositional Federalism and You, offers a framework for what he calls soft secession. Sumathy Kumar is the executive director of Housing Justice for All and the New York State Tenant Bloc, and former co-chair of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America chapter. Under her leadership, she saw six socialist legislators elected to the New York State legislature, including Zohran Mamdani.

Laura Flanders: How do you describe where we are?

Christopher Armitage: The United States has been taken over by a transnational criminal organization called the GOP.

LF: Well, that’s pretty straightforward. How about you, Sumathy?

Sumathy Kumar: I think that’s accurate. There are these two visions. A criminal organization that is stripping people of their wealth, of their dignity, and then a different vision of what life could be like if the government actually worked for people, if they’d put working-class people first. The best example of that is in New York City with the election of Zohran Mamdani.

LF: For many, they hear the word “secessionist,” Chris, and they think of the Southern strategy to defeat federal civil rights legislation. When you use the term, what are you referring to?

CA: I really appreciate this question because it’s one of my favorites to answer, because for so many Americans, secession means defending racism, states’ rights means defending racism. But there is no reason that we should lose the greatest tool that our founders gave us for fighting back against authoritarianism. States’ rights can protect reproductive rights. It can make sure everybody has healthcare. States’ rights can make sure that we have everything that we’ve been fighting for and struggling to win at the federal level. We can have that at the state level, and it doesn’t have to be opposition because at the federal level, there’s a structural imbalance that makes it very easy to regress and very difficult to progress. But at the state level, you can get ahold of your state representatives. You can say, “We want universal single-payer healthcare in this state.” That can happen where you have the most influence, and that’s locally.

SK: Exactly what Chris is saying. This is an opportunity in New York City to build that alternative,........

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