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To: Heyworth
Heyworth,
If the duly elected representatives of a subordinate political entity, vote to secede then absolutely yes. (This is the position of John Calvin.) A county could secede from a state, a town from a county. Yes they could rejoin the Union or another State if they voted to and the other entity was willing to have them on mutually agreeable terms. There are some Confederates who would disagree with this. They believe there is a special organic significance to the States. That is not my position. How this sort of issue comes up in reality is with the issue of annexation. A city gets greedy for more tax money and looks to annex a nearby rich neighborhood. This happened in one of my former homes, San Antonio. They wanted to annex an area called the Dominion where all the Spurs and George Straight live. Should they be able to do that without the concurrence of the citizens of the Dominion? A local Republican councilman said yes. Shameful!
Could the Union expel a State? Good question. I've never thought of that before. My instinct is yes, if the duly elected representatives of the Union voted to expel a State, then why not. But let me see what others have said about this to see if I'm missing something. Wouldn't you like to expel Mass.?
The subject of individual political secession is a tricky one. Hard core libertarians would say yes. Of course it raises the issue of lawlessness. Couldn't people just secede when they got arrested. That is why John Calvin made the threshold the elected representatives of the political entity in question. That said, if the individual seceded because he wanted the Republic of Bob where it was legal to steal, I would reject that. If he wanted the Republic of Bob where he refused to pay taxes, then I would leave him alone.
361 posted on 10/29/2004 1:23:18 PM PDT by Red Phillips ([><] Vote Peroutka. A real conservative. [><])
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To: Red Phillips
The subject of individual political secession is a tricky one. Hard core libertarians would say yes. Of course it raises the issue of lawlessness. Couldn't people just secede when they got arrested. That is why John Calvin made the threshold the elected representatives of the political entity in question.

Okay, then let's do a little thought experiment. Let's assume a county with a three-member county board. The three of them, for some reason, announce that they've decided to secede their county from the United States. There's no mechanism for recall and they won't be up for re-election for four years. They're the only ones who want this secession.

Is it legitimate?

365 posted on 10/29/2004 2:56:35 PM PDT by Heyworth
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