u/Realistic_Ad709

The older I get, the more I understand why the idea of Cascadia resonates with people.

Living in the Pacific Northwest often feels fundamentally different from the rest of the country. Our geography, climate, industries, environmental priorities, and overall culture create a regional identity that feels very distinct. A lot of people here feel more culturally aligned with British Columbia than they do with political institutions on the opposite side of the continent.

What really stands out to me is the sheer distance involved. Decisions affecting the PNW are often made by people in Washington DC who have no understanding of what life here is actually like. Most of them have never set foot on the west coast, let alone seen a forest or a mountain (they like to claim they have these things over there but…). The United States is enormous, and sometimes it’s hard not to wonder how sustainable it is for such a geographically and culturally diverse country to remain so centralized politically.

To me, Cascadia resonates because it acknowledges something a lot of people already feel instinctively: the Pacific Northwest does not feel culturally tethered to the East Coast in the way the current political structure assumes it should. Whether people support full independence or just stronger regional identity, I think the movement exists because that disconnect is real and increasingly hard to ignore.

I got downvoted to oblivion when I posted this elsewhere on Reddit. Go figure.