So, that secession stuff...

[seawasp]

A bunch of people have been posting petitions for secession of various states.

In some places, like this site, it's being mistakenly said that the STATES are posting the petition. No. It's just a bunch of citizens, most of whom have no particular standing.

Yo, people out there doing those petitions:

YOU DON'T SECEDE FROM THE UNION. This was settled in the Civil War.

Want to secede? Get your STATE LEGISLATURE to declare it. And then arm yourselves very well, because the Federal government made its position crystal-clear those many years ago. You'll have to make it hard enough to KEEP you that we're willing to let you go.

In some cases, we might be tempted to say "Hey, great, don't let the door hit your a** on the way out, but a country that allows itself to fragment like that is soon no country at all.

So if you want to secede? You waste your time with petitions. Get your governor and your state legislatures to draw up their own Constitution and make a Declaration of Independence (please don't just copy ours; write your own, it looks tacky the other way), and then TELL US you're seceding, and dare the rest of the U.S. Military to stop you.

Because THAT is the only way you're going to actually DO it. By taking us on. By separating families and friends along boundaries, having one set of Americans shoot another set, until one side or the other backs down.

On the other hand, if you're not willing to start another Civil War -- the bloodiest conflict in our nation's history -- stop posturing. It just looks silly.

Comments

[dsrtao]

succession => secession.

HTH.

[nuranar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this. I honestly had no idea what you were talking about. It sounded like a European Royalty conflict.

[seawasp]

Stupid fingers.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the photo of marchers carrying a banner reading SECDEE? I don't know if it's idiocy or Photoshop, but after the guy with the Morans sign...

[rasmusb.livejournal.com]

Oh the temptation -- you have no idea how I'd love to bid a not-tearful goodbye to our own Canadian seperatists (the Bloque Quebecois -- aka province of Quebec) Although it'd have to be limited to the land actually "HELD" by France when they lost back in the day. It's that tiny tear drop of land mostly attached to the St. Laurence River -- that I'm sure the US would snap up in a hot minute -- if they wanted to deal with the Quebecois. *you really don't ... yeesh*

But it would be kinda fun to watch. :)

[xander-opal.livejournal.com]

"Yer an Amurricin now, speak English!"

Or better, tell the secessionists they can have that little tiny bit of land, if they can take it from the Canadian secessionists.

I'll bring the popcorn.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

Can we vote to expell? We can do without Texas most days...

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Oh, come on. Tell that to Scotland, Kosovo....

[kjn]

Kosovo had a rather nasty civil war. For that matter, European history has some examples of countries splitting relatively peacefully, especially if they have a history as separate entities in some form.

Some examples are Sweden and Norway in 1905, Finland from Russia in 1917-1918, the Czech republic and Slovakia in 1993

[seawasp]

One can find examples, yes, but I suspect there's a lot more examples that end in people shooting, stabbing, or otherwise doing grievous harm to other people. And our country's history would strongly indicate that trying to leave the USA isn't going to be just a matter of "Okay, Texas, see you later".

[muirecan.livejournal.com]

There is a county near where I live that has been on again off again about succeeding since the mid 80's. Not that is has ever got any traction. And I don't think any of the various successionist movements have thought through that the only real way to succeed is fight a war. :p Idiots.

[arcadiagt5.livejournal.com]

You're making sense. Is that even allowed in American political discussions these days?

[seawasp]

Well, I don't have any official standing in any political sense, so I don't think anyone will notice.

[johnkzin.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'd let any of the red states go. Just about the only one that is cash-flow-positive (with respect to the federal budget) is Texas. And, it's not that I dislike TX, I just would be happy to see them successful on their own. If enough red states go with them (as a single country or not), it'll offset the federal budget. If even more red states go, then it'll do a great deal for the federal budget.