We would probably not be having this very interesting conversation, what with you being in one country and me in another.
If that was the case, the America in which you live would be a totally socialist nation by now. The small population heartland and mountain states like Kansas and Wyoming would be crushed politically by the Northeast and the West Coast. It'd be interesting to see if you'd like it, or if you'd be begging to immigrate to Dixie once your tax bill came due.
Since everything is the fault of Lincoln, then it would be only fair to project a confederacy based on the policies of Jefferson Davis, wouldn't you agree?
The confederacy would no doubt be a one-party state (Davis ran unopposed in his only election). The constitution would be irrelevant since it meant what the president said it meant (Davis quote to that effect) and since there would be no checks and balances in place to enforce it or to check Congress or the executive(the confederacy never established the Supreme Court required by their own constitution). The economy would be socialist in nature (the Davis government seized farm produce, slave labor, and shipping space without compensation "for the war effort" and nationalized industries like liquor, textiles, and salt production). States rights would be a hollow joke (Davis ignored state control over their own militia by extending enlistments for the duration of the war and by declaring martial law in areas hundreds of miles from the fighting). Income taxes would be high (in addition to implementing the first income tax by the end of the war Davis was trying to implement tax levels that were almost confiscatory in nature). The confederacy would be larger, with their expansion into Cuba, Central America and the Caribbean to provide room for their spread of slavery (1860 Democratic platform and the expressed intent of many of the confederate founding fathers). Slavery would have continued for some time, maybe as late as the 20th century, and probably ended badly (quotes from many of the confederate leaders on slavery and blacks in general) possibly leading to something similar to the apartheid of South Africa (Blacks were not and could not be citizens per the Dred Scott decision. No supreme court to change that and no 14th Amendment to override it.) So in short, your confederacy could very well have become a police state keeping a restive minority in check with socialistic policies and high taxes. And you would be welcome to it.
But, no, instead of discussing that, you “theorize” on what the South would be like today if it were a separate nation, based on war time actions Davis took a century and a half ago. You “theorize” expansion into Cuba and other places. You fret about South African style apartheid, as if the current South Africa is an improvement.
But thanks anyway for the discussion!
You wrote: Since everything is the fault of Lincoln, then it would only be fair to project a confederacy based on the policies of Jefferson Davis, wouldn't you agree?
I don't recall ever saying everything was the fault of Lincoln, or of ever even saying anything bad about Lincoln. The only exception might be that (as a warning to the anti-Confederacy folks) I sometimes note that Lincoln could easily be declared a non-person and purged from the American heroes list if the same standards were applied to him that are applied to the Confederates. Other than his opposition to slavery (though he was willing tolerate its presence to preserve the union) he was a pretty non-PC fellow. I don't hate Lincoln at all and usually don't even participate in the debates over the whether secession was right or wrong, whether the North or the South was to blame, etc.
I mainly participate in these debates to defend our rights to honor our ancestors and our regional heritage, and to challenge the idiotic and destructive campaign to demonize the Confederacy, its leaders, and its soldiers. Because unless this is stopped, it's going to lead to some very bad national consequences later.
If you look at the demographics, that would have likely been a restive MAJORITY! The South Africa analogy would likely be very close to reality if not not the Haiti option.