[wideawake]

Completely false. What did Lincoln do to harm the Republic, exactly?

This kind of empty talk is thrown around here too lightly.

[central_va]

Because of Lincoln and then the 17th amendment, the true republic died, states became the bitch of FedGov. We have grown up in this bastardized version of the first republic, the original one, as designed, is gone. All memory of the original intent has been lost. You are a prime example.

"Secession belongs to a different class of remedies. It is to be justified upon the basis that the States are Sovereign. There was a time when none denied it. I hope the time may come again, when a better comprehension of the theory of our Government, and the inalienable rights of the people of the States, will prevent any one from denying that each State is a Sovereign, and thus may reclaim the grants which it has made to any agent whomsoever."

President Jefferson Davis.