[marron]

Good grief. Read the various articles of secession where the states lay out their reasons for seceding. Tariffs get hardly a mention.

They are very clear. It is, not just about slavery, but the right to spread slavery to the western states. The American West was the prize.

[pgkdan]

Catalonia, Bavaria, and Veneto are relatively prosperous jurisdictions in their countries. They feel that what they get from the central governments is not worth the taxes they pay. Each wants the central government off its back.

It goes much, much deeper than that. Catalans and Basques have been struggling for independence from Spain for centuries. This isn't something that just popped up post-Brexit.

[Robert DeLong]

In 1859, Southern ports paid 75 percent of federal tariff revenue. However, the majority of the tariff revenue generated was spent on projects that benefited the North.

Tariffs being a contributing cause of the Civil War is hardly ever mentioned. Using the abolition of slavery as an excuse for a war that took the lives of 620,000 Americans confers greater moral standing for the Union.

Gee, I wonder why that is? /sarcasm

The slavery issue was not raised until after the war had begun, and it began due to the onerous taxation on the southern slave owning states to the overwhelming benefit of the northern states. Who actually held mixed emotions on the issue of slavery in the south.

[Wuli]

I like Walter. I do not dispute the little bit of history he covers at the tail end of his article - the role of tariffs in the mid-1800s disputes between the states of the United States.

However, his larger, more basic argument - the hypocrisy in the present political elites of Europe over the application and meaning of the “right of self-determination”, does not require it.

To me, it becomes a diversion that will cost him a broader audience that would be more responsive to his core message. I’d like to see his core message get that audience. I think the tail end of his article will cause that to not happen.

[alexander_busek]

"In the Federal Republic of Germany ... states are not 'masters of the constitution.' ... Therefore, there is no room under the constitution for individual states to attempt to secede. This violates the constitutional order."

Preamble of the Bavarian Constitution:

„Angesichts des Trümmerfeldes, zu dem eine Staats- und Gesellschaftsordnung ohne Gott, ohne Gewissen und ohne Achtung vor der Würde des Menschen die Überlebenden des Zweiten Weltkrieges geführt hat, in dem festen Entschlusse, den kommenden deutschen Geschlechtern die Segnungen des Friedens, der Menschlichkeit und des Rechts dauernd zu sichern, gibt sich das bayerische Volk, eingedenk seiner mehr als tausendjährigen Geschichte, nachstehende demokratische Verfassung.“

English:

Mindful of the physical devastation which the survivors of the 2nd World War were led into by a godless state and social order lacking in all conscience or respect for human dignity, firmly intending moreover to secure permanently for future German generations the blessing of Peace, Humanity and Law, and looking back over a thousand years and more of history, the Bavarian people hereby bestows upon itself the following Democratic Constitution.

U.S. Declaration of Independence:

When, in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another [...]

Q.E.D.

Regards,