What you're seeing here are the fading memories of what these (not 'the'!) once-United States were meant to be.

You've spent a lifetime embroiled in the results of malignant federalism, to the point neither you nor the people who should have taught you even know what a state is, only what powers the constituent districts called states still have.

To begin with, a state, as the authors of the Constitution and the foot soldiers and generals of the Revolution understood statehood, is a body with a territorial monopoly on the use of aggressive force. From this power, it derives the moral obligation to protect that territory from others and the capacity to enforce laws and levy taxes. You may remember city-states and nation-states from what passes for history classes in this country - the concept is a very old one, compared with the complete subversion in the last century.

A Union of States, then is not one sovereign political entity, (the current federal government) but many independent actors who cede certain powers to representatives of the group as a matter of necessity (national defense, diplomacy, and mediation of disputes).

Prior to the passage of the 17th Amendment, the States themselves chose senators, so they had federal representation accountable to their legislature. Each state maintained a militia, and there was not a standing federal military solely tasked with defending the nation's interests.

As for your question about moving, it was somewhat less of a concern in the 19th century than it is today, but the principles still hold. The state you reside in demands you follow its laws and defend it in times of war, no different than if you moved from the state of Japan to the state of Kazakhstan.

Texas is very proud of the fact that it was one of 10 states that was a sovereign nation before joining the United States in the year 1846. It was independent from Mexico for ten years before being granted statehood (the third longest; the other two being the Republic of Vermont which lasted 14 years and the Kingdom/Republic of Hawaii which lasted 103). The state pledge of allegiance is a cultural holdover from that period.

The state culture in general (outside of the metropolitan zones) is very independence-minded and there's a general disdain present for the Federal government. Especially lately with how they've decided to handle the border. The State government recently even passed a law forbidding local law enforcement agencies from rendering aid to the ATF in regards to federal silencer laws, and our electrical grid is separate from the Federal grid for better or worse.

But yeah we don't like the Federal government.

You need to unlearn modernity.

When the Roman empire died it left its constituent provinces behind to fend for themselves. The Romans left Britannia in 411AD. Within 70 years of that Londinium was uninhabited and a ruin. The 4th largest city in Roman Britain is a ruin today in the middle of pasture land, its only about 40 minutes drive from me. There are the ruined remains of villas and forts all over the country, probably the only really noticeable trace is some of our A roads like the A5 follow the path of Roman roads to some extent. It was a long and difficult road with anarchy after the Roman withdrawl. You had the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy and then the Viking and Norman invasions and England would not really see the kind of centralised unitary government it had under Rome until the 18th century and England has institutions with more than a thousand years of history and a mono-culture on a relatively isolated island. Even in the 17th century many regions of England were essentially under strong man rule who pledged nominal allegiance to the crown while enjoying considerable domestic autonomy. The county of Cheshire was ruled by such a man.

The United States has no future. Its an artificial and rotting edifice of a once great empire but its no more. The federal government has no future, the US dollar has no future. Most kids if you ask them what America is would draw the Apple logo or say its about defending transsexual paedophile rights or something. The states and counties that make it up especially the more rural ones probably will find themselves left behind to pick up the pieces when it eventually dies.

Maybe you get an American Cesar who can turn things around or you get a Vladimir Putin or an Adolf Hitler or a Teddy Roosevelt but that is incredibly unlikely these days. Just look at how dysgenic and retarded the population has become. A nation where the paedophile in Chief in the white house has to invoke Star Wars or Marvel to make the blob shaped mulatto dross in Walmart understand why we have to start WW3 with Putin over Ukraine where at Putin goes on TV and gives an hour long dissertation about the history of Ukraine and the intricacies of the Soviet system is highly unlikely to have the ability to produce such a man.

Oh and I'm not some smug Euro-trash gloating over the death of the Amerifat empire either. As someone who has spent a lot of time in both Europe and America I would say as shocking as it is the situation in Europe actually seems worse in some ways. We haven't been hit as hard by the opiate epidemic or obesity in our post industrial hinterlands but there seems to have been an even more severe generalised cultural collapse and an even greater proportion of the population who have lost all semblance of the concept of self preservation. Europe's financial system is on the edge of the abyss and without access to cheap Russian energy most of Europe will not even be able to heat itself come winter let alone operate any industry.

Well, we are a United States which means the intention is to lean towards your State over your Fed. Especially since one is your smaller home and has a massive effect on your day to day, whereas the other should be further removed from that. The same way you care about grandma more than Great Aunt.

It was only through constant overreach of the Fed that States lost their identity and power and we became a forced amalgamation of one big nation. Some states however kept more of that identity than others, and that's independent of Left/Right schisms.

If I move to Nevada and I consider Nevada awesome and Texas terrible, am I a traitor to the state of Texas?

Well we are still a United set of States, which means that unless you are taking open action against Texas you aren't actually committing treason. Immigration isn't treason.

Whereas China is a state that is usually constantly acting in a way that is considered malicious towards the US, so supporting them would be traitorous.

I always felt like Hawaii was a giant reservation, and the military territory was actual America. We joked Waikiki was actually a reservation for tourists because most people only stepped foot in there if they had to. A lot of locals quietly cheer when they hear about the bombing of pearl harbor. There is a looong history of resentment in Hawaii which catch beef.

I've never lived in Texas, but I can sort of see the same thing among Texans and their history.