Posted on 02/13/2010 9:35:17 AM PST by Politically Correct
Frédéric Bastiat must have been looking toward the future of the United States today when he said, “When plunder has become a way of life for a group of people living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it, and a moral code that glorifies it.”
I fear the federal government will plunder much of our private wealth, retirement plans and personal savings through hyperinflation, financial controls and confiscatory tax rates all in the name of protecting the public from a future debt crisis unless the states can secede from the Union and the crushing Washington debt load.
The first actual secession following several attempts by the New England states took place in the South and it ended with the defeat of the Confederate States of America. Now secession is again in the news and this time it may be the only solution to surviving the coming Washington national debt crisis.
We need to forget the causes of the earlier War Between the States, regional differences, slavery, tariffs and other related issues. The new secession effort will be state-based but a national movement all across the United States ranging from Vermont to Georgia, Texas to Alaska etc. Economic survival and prosperity rather than regional issues will be motivating factor.
The first secession was a product of anti-southern tariff taxes resulting in the Southern states paying the majority of the revenue to fund the distant federal government. A mistaken defense of the dying institution of slavery by slaveholding elites in the South also contributed to the failed secession effort. Third, the advancement of corporate manufacturing profits and railroad expansionism by the Northeastern establishment elites were a major contributor. Finally the promotion of a conflict by the European Rothschild banking interests funding both the Northern abolitionists and the Southern secessionists guaranteed a violent breakup of what should have been a peaceful parting of the states.
Still the right of democratic state-by-state secession did not die at the point of a bayonet at Appomattox Court House in 1865. The belief in peaceful devolution of government powers and services to regions and local jurisdictions to allow citizens to control the power of politicians and government is a positive advancement for the 21st century. In addition, the right of devolution of states, geographic regions and groups around the world promotes competition and freedom.
I believe legal state secession from the Washington Empire just might become the only way for American citizens to escape the disastrous consequences from the coming global run to liquidate holdings of Washington treasury obligations and the dollar. Breaking free of the false chains that threaten our economic future from the likely Washington debt/dollar collapse might be our last chance to safeguard our financial security and liberty from the hyperinflation and crushing new tax increases to be forced on this and future generations from the bailouts and national debt.
Imagine no Washington income tax, no interference in the internal affairs of individual states, no involvement in perpetual wars around the world without a declaration of war, no Washington tax-feeding bureaucrats telling individual citizens, state legislatures or state agencies what to do.
Consider the benefits of sovereign states voluntarily participating in a decentralized republic or confederation, maybe like America’s first central government created by our patriot founding fathers, the Articles of Confederation. A decentralized nation where marriage, religious views, history, symbols, culture, abortion, gay rights etc. are determined on a state basis, Where citizens can eat, drink, smoke or do whatever with regulations and conduct governed by the norms of a state or locality rather than a distant federal government.
Can you envision a healthy economy, with minimal government debts combined with a rising standard of living and job growth guaranteed by low taxes, minimal regulations and currency competition? All of this without the Federal Reserve and Wall Street creating excessive bubbles followed by contraction and collapse and then demanding bailouts.
Imagine for a moment a people and sovereign states with future generations free from the illegitimate Washington national debt which threatens to destroy the prosperity, savings, housing values and jobs for our children and grandchildren. Review the US National Debt Clock which tells the entire story and our future. Today the official US National Debt breaks down to $40,079 per individual. Look at the clock link to see the increase per second.
Finally, when you consider the total unfunded liabilities of Washington (see the link above), the liability per American citizen is $177,515. Remember, none of the citizens of the individual states or America in general have had the opportunity to vote on the bailout or approve these debts most of which have gone to international corporations, Wall Street and world banking cartels. We, our children and future generations should not have to fund or pay off an illegitimate debt created just to bail out a few global corporations and wealthy special interests.
The Washington Empire is now run for the benefit of New York financial and economic interests who own and control most of Congress. Due to the recent bailouts and added debt which the majority of Americans opposed, the United States is now sadly on the path toward economic, debt and currency destruction.
Why should my state, South Carolina or other states join the federal government in future poverty, loss of freedoms and lagging economic prosperity with a dismal future determined by their foreign creditors? I say, it is time to free the states and citizens from the dark economic future which Washington and Wall Street have created. Just maybe we can finally be free at last from Washington’s national debt.
As Dr. Martin Luther King, from his I have a Dream speech said, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.” To quote another Southerner, Jefferson Davis was right when he stated, “I love the Union and the Constitution, but I would rather leave the Union with the Constitution than remain in the Union without it.”
I think it is time for Americans left and right to reconsider where our nation and the federal government have ended up. Few would question that the all-powerful Washington government living on borrowed debt and fake prosperity is a political model which has failed miserably.
Today the constitutional protections have become just another dead document through the actions of Bush and Obama. A recent, WSJ/NBC poll showed that only 3% of Americans believe the government is doing a good job. Given the margin of error in the poll, the real % could have been zero.
Let’s revisit the political wisdom of the original republic founded through the blood and sacrifice of our patriot founding fathers. Back to something like the original republic of sovereign state republics, the Articles of Confederation.
Today in 2010, join me in voting both for the dream of Dr. King and the vision of Jefferson Davis. It is time to replace the failed Washington leviathan with a new limited central government based on the original vision of sovereign states where we become again, “these United States” instead of “the United States.” I’m voting in 2010 and 2012 in support of the Tenth Amendment and for the right of nullification.
Finally, if necessary, I’ll support temporary secession efforts from the empire until we restore the original republic of our founding fathers. We must be free of an illegitimate national debt, an unconstitutional Federal Reserve and protected by currency competition and the choice of a currency based on the gold standard.
Regards,
Ron Holland
Wait until they come after our 401k’s ....
Don’t wait, cash them out if you’re worried. Take the hit now, better to have 80% than 0%.
Interesting points.
Now, what happens if a state wants to secede from the union? What happens to their pro-rata share of the national debt, unfunded liabilities such as Social Security, etc.? Do their residents still have a claim on benefits such as Social Security? Does that state have to take on their share of the national debt as the price of exiting the union?
There are lots of practical questions which come up with talk of secession, such as national defense, and what to do about military bases in states that secede.
I can imagine, though, that once a state decides to do this, it could provoke a flood of states leaving, if it were decided that the seceding states were out from under the national debt and unfunded liabilities, and that the debt was the responsibility of only the states that stayed in the union.
I’ll be 25 next month ... just starting out ....
Why did our Founders move away from the Articles of Confederation and go with the current Constitution and Bill of Rights?
Only problem, all states are as corrupt as the Federal Government and many are even more so.
And there’s a part of me which says that any attempt at secession this time around would not see the same response as it did with Lincoln. I could easily see the Obama-style Democrat simply unable to make the decision to fight for the integrity of the country, as Lincoln perceived the battle, and by time a decision was made, those people in the free states would have already established their right to govern.
The other, darker part of me, could also easily see the Obama-style Democrat labeling any such an effort as a “terrorist” action and then launching a nuclear warhead towards any state capital which seeks that kind of autonomy. At that point, it’ll be a crap shoot whether or not the military will actually follow the order.
Another alternative is equally dark - secession becoming the threat that Lincoln and others warned about, with Balkanized enclaves everywhere, mayhem and fighting among states and quasi-state entities, and people seceeding from the original state and then people inside that group seceeding again. ACORN and the Black Panthers ruling Philadephia; the Chicago machine finally showing its Marxist colors; folks in the Dakotas living among heaps of rotting grain unable to get the food to market; the border with Mexico, in places unguarded, swarming with the Reconquista. Maybe Lincoln wasn’t so wrong after all.
I would like to see the Czechoslovakia plan, personally. The states gather. Your group goes one way; our group goes the other way; we sign an agreement and call it day. Let the left maintain their little kingdoms along the California coast and the Great Lakes and the Northeast, and allow those of us who want limited government and liberty to reform our nation from Alaska to Texas.
I guess we’ll just see. When I keep hearing the word “secession” over and over and over, something is going on.
Now, what happens if a state wants to secede from the union? What happens to their pro-rata share of the national debt, unfunded liabilities such as Social Security, etc.? Do their residents still have a claim on benefits such as Social Security? Does that state have to take on their share of the national debt as the price of exiting the union?
There are lots of practical questions which come up with talk of secession, such as national defense, and what to do about military bases in states that secede.
I can imagine, though, that once a state decides to do this, it could provoke a flood of states leaving, if it were decided that the seceding states were out from under the national debt and unfunded liabilities, and that the debt was the responsibility of only the states that stayed in the union.
Lots of questions to which I have no answers.
Realize, that I'm not advocating this particular course of action.
Just noting that it is being talked about.
It’s easier to deal with handful of tyrants a few miles away than a legion of them a few thousand miles away.
I'll believe it when I see it. Americans did nothing when the National Firearms Act was passed. Veterans of WWI did nothing after the Bonus Army incident.
I'm a young guy, but all this talk seems to me to be chest beating. I'll only believe it when I see concrete action.
If Russia is any indication of what we might expect, one could anticipate a spike in organized crime rising up after the collapse.
This is my conundrum. I have a bit over $100k and am out of work. I really don't see any hope of finding a job that paid anywhere near what I was making in CT.
My wife has a real good job. We have two young children.
My thinking is this: If I leave it in and wait till I am 65 (fifteen years) the taxes on withdrawal will equal the penalty now, IMO.
I was lucky. I put the money in the money market before the crash and actually made about 3% last year but lost nothing the year before.
I just hate the idea of giving up about 45% of my cash in one fell swoop.
Government’s already thinking about confiscating them soon. Articles on FR last week about this. Basically taking them over, making them a giant pool (fund), 12 trillion, and then as you hit retirement giving you stipends (annuitizing). They wnat the 12 trillion in real money to pay off debts and buy stuff. Nobody needs all their money at once so they figure they’ll have time to earn the interest and pay it back, whatever they spend. They’ll just owe you, they are good for it. It’s like starting social security II, only with your money this time.
And if you’re not working now and don’t think you wil be, it’s the best time to take it out because it won’t push you into a higher tax bracket. Figure they hold 20%, you’ll have 80K as income for the year. Minus deductibles and such and there ya go. Just live really frugally. But at least you’ll have your money out before you may not be able to take it out, or they increase the penalty for taking all of it out.
Like it would be worse than the organized crime of the Obummer administration and this congress?
Yeah, there’s one more thing, too. The trouble with “collapse” is that is often followed by “authoritarian overreaction.”
I think I prefer the Jeffersonians way of dealing with Fedzilla. They did what they needed to, including firing Supreme Court justices to restore intended constitutional balance that was distored by the Federalist notion of government on a whim.
The second coming of Fedzilla was dealt with in much the same way as described in this article, and I don’t believe it resulted in putting it in its place, but rather empowering it and spawning progessive intellectualism. Secession and defeat are not the answer, but the pathway to something even more terrible than we can imagine.
>>>I’m a young guy, but all this talk seems to me to be chest beating. I’ll only believe it when I see concrete action.<<<
You’re right. One of the alternatives is just slowly sinking into authoritarianism, or worse, while people do nothing. It’s one of the alternatives... probably one of the saddest, too. Your point is spot on, though.
civil war would follow quickly I imagine. Urban areas would quickly descend into anarachy once the free money ran out.
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