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:
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:
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
