A Case for Secession

Well, it looks like this secession business isn't going away any time soon. When last I checked my Facebook wall, over 600,000 signatures had been accumulated in all fifty states on petitions asking each state to peacefully secede from the United States. It's not just a few states, either. All fifty states have at least started petitions asking for this to happen, and a few, most notably the Lone Star State of Texas, have garnered the necessary signatures to prompt White House review. Will Obama allow such a thing to happen if Texas or any other state decided to go it alone in the next few years? Those of you who know him will agree with me that no, he will not allow the Union to be fractured as James Buchannan did before Lincoln took office and oversaw the Civil War.

I'm not one of the signers of these petitions, but I can definitely see that, though I may be in the minority, there are benefits to striking out on one's own. Take the obvious example of the former Republic of Texas. If in fact they were to secede and either form a new Confederacy with some of the other southern states, or simply become a republic again, they would likely be in a very good position to hold their own against whatever backlash may result. They have oil reserves, wide open land for settlement and (for lack of a better term) colonization. They have a ready made citizen army in the form of their gun-toting population thanks to their open carry laws, not to mention they've got the Texas rangers and, depending on how the National Guard feels about secession, could conscript a ready fighting force with which to defend their northern and southern borders. This is of course entirely speculative, but still some interesting food for thought in my own humble opinion.

In the event of secession, however, Texas may not have to go it alone, though they very likely could, for the reasons stated above. According to that article linked above, six other states have reached the requisite number of signatures needed to prompt review by the White House. The states in question are: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Does anyone else notice a similar theme regarding these states? Those of you who know your history will notice that every single one of these states in question was part of the old Confederacy of Civil War fame. Should it come to light that all seven of these states are no longer part of the Union, their best chance of survival would be to form a union of their own akin to that Confederacy, if only to consolidate their resources. Here's why that has a good chance of working:

1. Slavery is no longer the issue.

The Old South had a monkey on their back that galvanized the North against them in the form of slavery. The modern South has no such albatross. This time the secession from the Union really is about the rights of the States to decide their own fate, and such can't be marred by the specter of keeping one's fellow humans in bondage. Some will probably try to tie it to illegal immigration, but even that can't really take traction since secession will allow the Texans to do themselves what the federal government refuses to do and secure the border.

2. The states who secede wish to do so peacefully.

I realize that the South of old wanted to do so peacefully as well, but this time I think the national consensus is more in line with that. I'm fully aware that I could be wrong on this, as I'm sure many were wrong about a peaceful secession back in 1861. I don't claim to be clairvoyant, either. But back then we didn't have a fifty state consensus as we do now. It is entirely likely that, should all fifty states secede (a process I realize is the most unlikely scenario of them all) then they will most likely band together in like minded factions, i.e. The Republic of Texas could encompass several of the states, New England would likely stick together and form their own alliance, and California and several western and northwestern states would likely form a commonwealth of their own. I highly doubt that this scenario will come to pass, but it is worth entertaining, if not  for the "what if" value.

3. It is extremely unlikely at this time that Washington will listen to anything other than drastic action.

We've tried peaceful protest. It didn't get anyone important in Washington to listen, except for a very few select Republicans who act as the voice of the fledgling TEA Party. Readers will recall this post where I, after watching the FOX news coverage of the 9/12 march on D.C., put forth an extensive optimistic outlook on the future of our country because of the outpouring of support for fiscal solvency and the push-back that Obamacare was considering. It filled me with hope and I thought at the time that the 2010 and 2012 elections would be the turning point back to limited government principals that this country so desperately needed in order to return to the prosperous Shining City on a Hill that Ronald Reagan believed we should be. Four years later I was proven wrong and wrote this post, which is obviously a complete 180 from the tone that the 9/12 post was. Now is the time for a drastic maneuver. One that will get the attention of the administration in no uncertain terms. The petitions now being circulated have done that, I believe, given that a counter petition has been submitted that asks for Obama to strip people of their citizenship rights if they sign a secession petition.

There are many other reasons I could go into as to why secession might be possible, but I can see that this post is getting rather long in the tooth, and I'd rather not make it any longer. Perhaps I'll add a second post in the future. Until next time, fellow Patriots, Fight the Good Fight.

19 States are Petitioning to Secede. 19 STATES!!!

My better half has been helping me keep an eye on the state of the country for the better part of Obama's first term, and continues to do so as we enter his second. Usually she does so by asking me questions about different articles she reads on the net, which I of course answer to the best of my ability. Nothing other than the typical voter fraud allegations after the election and the "what do we do now" questions coming from the Republican higher-ups could be found until a few days ago, when said better half showed me several links on Whitehouse.gov that revealed some interesting petitions.

Interesting might be too mild a term for it, though, as this sort of petition was only circulated with success once in our history. You see, dear readers, their are currently, as of this writing and according to examiner.com, nineteen states have petitioned the federal government with the request that they be allowed to "peacefully withdraw from the United States and form their own government." Does anyone else remember the idea that the South rising again was little more than a joke to be made against those supposedly ignorant redneck former slaveholders? Galt's Gulch remembers. I feel like a complete fool for not believing it could ever happen, too. Yet it appears that that's exactly the case. The country is more divided now than at any other point in our history before 1861, and the children who voted for Santa Clause are in charge for at least the next four years. Those who think Barack will simply seize power and stay in office barring a miracle are tilting at windmills, however. There are myriad ways in our system to keep someone from becoming a dictator. Just look at the ten states that had nullification measures on the ballot this year. Of those, six passed. That's a majority. I'd like to think that it's also a microcosm of what the rest of the country is in for with the full implementation of Obamacare, as well. What would really be nice is if someone dusted off the old nullification rule that is now little more than a footnote to people these days, but I won't hope for too much this time. I did that on Tuesday and am still licking my wounds.

But back to the secession deal. As of this writing, according to that article linked above:

On the day after the election, "Michael E" from Slidell, Louisiana, filed a petition at the White House "We the People" site, requesting that Louisiana be allowed to secede. That petition has 12,585 signatures as of this writing.

Other states soon followed.

A petition for Texas was launched on Friday. That petition has garnered 15,928 signatures as of this writing.

Similar petitions have been launched for Kentucky, Colorado, New Jersey, Montana, North Dakota, Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New York and Oregon.

According to the White House "We the people" site, petitions have 30 days to reach 25,000 signatures. Once the threshold has been reached, the petition will be reviewed by the administration and a response will be given.

So what does this mean, exactly? It means that we're almost as divided now as we were over 150 years ago before we ended up shooting each other over the right of black people to exist without being put into bondage. It means that if this goes anywhere, and the above indicated that there are signs that it will, we could be in for another dissolution of the Union into two or more entities. Will this result in Civil War? It's certainly a possibility, and any who don't think so are pretty  much fooling themselves. Is it the most likely outcome? No. Not at this stage, at least. Should any state ACTUALLY DECLARE themselves separate from the Union, then we're in trouble. And it won't be a simple four year bloodbath, either. No longer is the South limited by manufacturing capabilities or resource shortages, AND they're not dependent on slavery to keep what industry they have going. It will be a long and arduous ordeal if the country is faced with another Civil War. I don't believe it will come to that, but one must acknowledge that it IS possible, with the country as divided as we are.

What gets me is, if they're serious, why are the states submitting petitions to the White House and asking permission? The Tenth Amendment states that "all powers not delegated herein to the federal government are reserved for the states and  the people." All that needs to happen is a vote on the state level to determine whether or not secession is the way to go. After that, they can figure out how to restructure the government within their own borders. Likely, if all 19 of these states DO secede, they'll probably have no choice but to band together in a new sort of Union a  la  the old Confederacy minus the racism and slavery. Otherwise all it would take was a thin pretext for Obama to send in the military against that state's National Guard, assuming the national guard is on board with protecting the newly seceded state.

I don't know as much as I seem to about politics, but that seems to be the obvious thing that would happen based on what I DO know. With Texas nearly halfway to their mark, it's looking like at least THEY will become a new independent Republic in their own right, Supreme Court decision or no.

UPDATE: Texas has reached the required 25,000 signatures in no more than three days. Will other states follow? Further updates to come.

UPDATE II: It looks as though the list has since grown from 19 to thirty. That's over half the union, btw. I don't know how many signatures each state has, but here's the full list, compiled by The Blaze:

• Delaware
• California
• Ohio
• Nevada
• Pennsylvania
• Arizona
• Oklahoma
• Arkansas
• South Carolina
• Georgia
• Missouri
• Tennessee
• Michigan
• New York
• Colorado
• Oregon
• New Jersey
• North Dakota
• Montana
• Indiana
• Mississippi
• Kentucky
• Florida
• North Carolina
• Alabama
• Texas
• Louisiana

The New American Crisis

I've been reading a lot of history lately, and among those writers that I've taken into my literary collection is Founding Father Thomas Paine, the writer of such things as Common Sense, and the document that I've paraphrased, The American Crisis. In a letter to George Washington on the eve of battle, written on the skin of a drum due to lack of parchment to work with, Paine wrote to George Washington a long letter in which existed a sentence that was also the title of my last post: These are the times that try men's souls. Now we, those who produce, those who believe in personal freedom and taking responsibility, have been thoroughly trounced by those who care more about free stuff than freedom of will. I've been listening to Glenn Beck on livestream the last forty five minutes in the hopes of hearing his infectious sense of conviction and allowing it to soak into my own consciousness. So far nothing yet, but he did bring up something I think is worth repeating here.

First, though, Thomas Paine and some words of wisdom: We are in for hard times here, people. We are going to have to endure four plus years of political exile within our own borders. Sure, we retained a majority in the House of Representatives, and a great deal of state level elections went in our favor, but we've still hit a wall. Now the question is, what do we do? This, dear readers, is our new American Crisis. We face a shifting electoral demographic that cares more about fun than hard work. We face an illegal immigrant invasion from Mexico that is turning Texas into a deep blue state, slowly but surely. To use the Revolution analogy once more, we are now facing our version of the British Regulars, with us in the role of the Continental Army. The difference, however, is we have no George Washington as yet to lead us out of the crisis. Yet. We don't know how long it will be, but eventually it will happen because this too shall pass.

Now to the letter I mentioned. Beck and his crew on the radio read from a letter to the Israelites, who were at this point in history forced into exile by the ruler of the Middle East at that time, Nebuchadnezzar. The Jewish people, in their distress, prayed for guidance as to what they were supposed to do in light of this new development. An individual came to them and told them it would only be two years before they were allowed to come back to Jerusalem and live as they had lived in the past. This person turned out to be a false prophet, and was dead within those two years, with the Jews still in exile. Still later into that exile, the Jews received a letter from Jerusalem giving them specific instructions on how to behave while they were in exile. According to the story, the letter, which was believed to be a sign from God as to His plan, bore the instructions as follows. I can't use the exact words, but I'll paraphrase: Build communities. Build gardens. Strengthen where you are. Why were these the instructions, you ask? Because the letter also contained a message from God that the writer had received. The letter essentially said that after 70 years of Nebuchadnezzar, the Jews would be allowed to return to Jerusalem. 70 years. Think about what that means. Not only were the Jews forced  into exile, but they were going to be there for 70 years because of God's plan. Get that? EXILE WAS THE PLAN!

We are now in a time when we must realize that this wasn't a setback. This is the plan. We are being reminded, as Thomas Paine reminded Washington and as God reminded the Jews, what our life is worth. We are being reminded not to stop being who we are. We are being reminded that bad things happen, and in spite of that we must endure. We must remember who we are. We must remember that darkness always precedes the dawn. I thought that the 2008 election was our darkest hour. I was wrong. It was merely the twilight hour between evening and nightfall. This also is not our darkest hour, despite it being darker than 2008. We have not yet approached midnight, but we will approach it, and after that midnight hour, the dawn will only come nearer. When that dawn comes I do not know, but I know it will come. I believe it will come. And so must you, for as Thomas Paine said: These are the times that try men's souls.

These are the Times that Try Men's Souls

I had hoped that my 300th post on this blog would be more positive than this, but things being what they are, it's taking every bit of resolve I have not to crumple into a fetal ball of flesh and pour my eyes out over the re-election of the most corrupt and dangerous president this country has ever had. I could beat around the bush and rationalize away the loss, but that wouldn't be fair to you, my readers, and it wouldn't be honest, either. I'm despairing right now. I'm truly afraid for the loss we suffered tonight. After the 2010 midterms it would appear that our side got over confident about our chances, which contributed to our loss tonight. Over the last few hours I've scoured the internet for even a sliver of a silver lining, but I've been as yet unable to find it. Sure, republicans are in control of the House, but that just means four more years of the status quo since we failed to capture the senate and the presidency, as was required in order to begin rolling back the progressive cancer that has been slowly infecting us for over a century. Alas, for whatever reason, it appears that's not the case, even though allegations of voter fraud are being clung to as a last hope for turning the election around.

Regardless of whether or not voter fraud helped win this election for Obama, it means little to nothing if Romney's team doesn't challenge these votes as illegitimate and take the case before the high courts, as Bush did in 2000. I doubt he'll do it. His concession speech, by all accounts, tells me that no, he will not contest the vote. He has already given up the ghost and will now go on to do whatever it is that failed presidential candidates do. Paul Ryan, at least, will be returning to his seat in the House, so someone with a voice of reason will be there, though he'll still have to deal with John Boehner, and that will be a trial in and of itself. This being the case, I have decided to accept the reality I see before me, and prepare for four more years with President Barack Obama in the White House.

That being said, I thought long and hard for these last hours about where to go from here, and I've decided to continue to, as I've said on occasion, fight the good fight. I wanted to give up. Wanted to believe that we were done. Both as a nation and as a voice for freedom and conservatism. I was ready to pack it up and call it a day, much as Hack Wilson has done. I thought for certain that there was nothing more to be done. The monster we know as Obamacare will now stand even less chance of being repealed, and electing a true conservative to the office in 2016 may be a pipe dream in the making. Yet what else can I do but fight on?

Which brings me to the title of this post. In the tumultuous days between 1776 and 1789, America was fighting a different, more conventional war. We were fighting against the largest military the world had ever seen, the best trained, and the best funded as well. Theirs was a battle of bayonets and bullets, yet it was no more or less trying than our battle being fought today, for our enemy was the same: Tyranny. The more brazen tyranny of King George was more prevalent, of course, but it was no less insidious. Another George was at the head of that fight on our side, one George Washington. And he was losing badly. So badly, in fact, that many among the Continental Army were feeling that desertion and reconciliation with Great Britain was the only route to saving their own lives. This continued for the majority of the first half of the war, until Washington and his men reached the frozen Hell of Valley Forge. Washington's army was broken and dispirited. His undisciplined rabble of farmers and craftsmen were on the verge of defeat. With nowhere else to go, Washington looked to the one being who could see them through: The Father Above.

The famous painting of Washington praying at Valley Forge has always been one of my favorites. It now has become a necessary reminder that we are not the first generation, nor the last, to face a tyrannical regime. These next four years will be long and hard, especially if Obama manages to dodge impeachment for Solyndra, Benghazi, and all the rest of the scandals that have plagued his administration. The one bright spot I see regarding Obama is the fact that he has now inherited HIS OWN mess rather than someone else's. Not that that will stop the Blame Bush crowd. Why should they quit? Obama asked for a mulligan and the American people gave it  to him. Now he has carte blanche to continue his statist agenda and only our Representatives in the House and the half of the country that didn't vote for Obama stand in the way. In light of these revelations, I have decided after serious thought to call this our Valley Forge Moment. We are at the precipice of defeat, but we haven't been beaten yet. We have to form ranks, ready muskets and bayonets, and charge once more into the field of battle. After all, as George S. Patton said, you're never beaten until you admit it.

These are the Times that Try Men's Souls

I had hoped that my 300th post on this blog would be more positive than this, but things being what they are, it's taking every bit of resolve I have not to crumple into a fetal ball of flesh and pour my eyes out over the re-election of the most corrupt and dangerous president this country has ever had. I could beat around the bush and rationalize away the loss, but that wouldn't be fair to you, my readers, and it wouldn't be honest, either. I'm despairing right now. I'm truly afraid for the loss we suffered tonight. After the 2010 midterms it would appear that our side got over confident about our chances, which contributed to our loss tonight. Over the last few hours I've scoured the internet for even a sliver of a silver lining, but I've been as yet unable to find it. Sure, republicans are in control of the House, but that just means four more years of the status quo since we failed to capture the senate and the presidency, as was required in order to begin rolling back the progressive cancer that has been slowly infecting us for over a century. Alas, for whatever reason, it appears that's not the case, even though allegations of voter fraud are being clung to as a last hope for turning the election around.

Regardless of whether or not voter fraud helped win this election for Obama, it means little to nothing if Romney's team doesn't challenge these votes as illegitimate and take the case before the high courts, as Bush did in 2000. I doubt he'll do it. His concession speech, by all accounts, tells me that no, he will not contest the vote. He has already given up the ghost and will now go on to do whatever it is that failed presidential candidates do. Paul Ryan, at least, will be returning to his seat in the House, so someone with a voice of reason will be there, though he'll still have to deal with John Boehner, and that will be a trial in and of itself. This being the case, I have decided to accept the reality I see before me, and prepare for four more years with President Barack Obama in the White House.

That being said, I thought long and hard for these last hours about where to go from here, and I've decided to continue to, as I've said on occasion, fight the good fight. I wanted to give up. Wanted to believe that we were done. Both as a nation and as a voice for freedom and conservatism. I was ready to pack it up and call it a day, much as Hack Wilson has done. I thought for certain that there was nothing more to be done. The monster we know as Obamacare will now stand even less chance of being repealed, and electing a true conservative to the office in 2016 may be a pipe dream in the making. Yet what else can I do but fight on?

Which brings me to the title of this post. In the tumultuous days between 1776 and 1789, America was fighting a different, more conventional war. We were fighting against the largest military the world had ever seen, the best trained, and the best funded as well. Theirs was a battle of bayonets and bullets, yet it was no more or less trying than our battle being fought today, for our enemy was the same: Tyranny. The more brazen tyranny of King George was more prevalent, of course, but it was no less insidious. Another George was at the head of that fight on our side, one George Washington. And he was losing badly. So badly, in fact, that many among the Continental Army were feeling that desertion and reconciliation with Great Britain was the only route to saving their own lives. This continued for the majority of the first half of the war, until Washington and his men reached the frozen Hell of Valley Forge. Washington's army was broken and dispirited. His undisciplined rabble of farmers and craftsmen were on the verge of defeat. With nowhere else to go, Washington looked to the one being who could see them through: The Father Above.

The famous painting of Washington praying at Valley Forge has always been one of my favorites. It now has become a necessary reminder that we are not the first generation, nor the last, to face a tyrannical regime. These next four years will be long and hard, especially if Obama manages to dodge impeachment for Solyndra, Benghazi, and all the rest of the scandals that have plagued his administration. The one bright spot I see regarding Obama is the fact that he has now inherited HIS OWN mess rather than someone else's. Not that that will stop the Blame Bush crowd. Why should they quit? Obama asked for a mulligan and the American people gave it  to him. Now he has carte blanche to continue his statist agenda and only our Representatives in the House and the half of the country that didn't vote for Obama stand in the way. In light of these revelations, I have decided after serious thought to call this our Valley Forge Moment. We are at the precipice of defeat, but we haven't been beaten yet. We have to form ranks, ready muskets and bayonets, and charge once more into the field of battle. After all, as George S. Patton said, you're never beaten until you admit it.