Good luck trying to talk some of these people down. What FDR did in the 30s and what LBJ, Nixon, Ford, and Carter did were worse. Unfortunatley, we may have to go through those conditions again to set the stage for a new Reagan/Thatcher revolution.
You have to remember that this nation has already had one president for life -- Roosevelt. And it happened precisely because he was willing to hand out free stuff in hard times that he first took advantage of then worked to perpetuate however unwittingly.
Obama and Reid intend to provoke crisis so they can ride in and save the day. The more people depend on the government the more power they will give that government.
Secession or not, the only way out of this mess is to stop letting parasites vote. If you aren't working, don't own anything and are on the dole, you aren't a citizen you are a parasite.
And now the parasites own the federal government and outnumber the citizens. The only bright spots are the state governments the parasites overlooked.
The people submitting these petitions, however misguided they may be, grasp that. People sitting out elections at home waiting for a conservative candidate to swoop in and rescue them are the delusional ones.