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To: Libertarianize the GOP
The constitution is an act binding the individual American to the Union. It is not an act of the States of the Union but the People. There is no point of negoitiation between the States and the Union that would allow changes in the Union other than by amendment. States were deliberately excluded from the decision about the constitution because it was to be a higher act than passage of a law or resolution by the State legislature which could be easily rescinded.

There is no doubt that property of the Federal government can be disposed of in any way it decides in States or territories but States are not property of the federal government and thus cannot be cast out of the Union, allowed to leave the Union or sold by the rest of the Union without a constitutional amendment changing the form and contents of the nation.

While the federal government does have the power to delegate its responsibilities and duties to the States it does not have the power to suspend the Constitution in those States unless in war or insurrection. That is the essence of secession- the Constitution of the United States no longer applies in a seceded State. That is tantamount to saying the people of that state no longer has the protections of the U.S. constitution. The constitution cannot be suspended in such a fashion only by amendment. Changes to the Union must occur through the constitutional means and that is amendment. It is the highest law incapable of change by the normal fashion of passing a law to change another ordinary law.

I realize this may not be clear but it is something I have never tried to articulate. Perhaps your comments or questions will allow me to make it clearer.
196 posted on 12/13/2002 7:28:54 AM PST by justshutupandtakeit
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To: justshutupandtakeit
I realize that we have been talking past each other for the most part because you and I disagree over the legitimacy of secession. I have seen enough evidence to convince me that secession is legitimate but I don't want to debate that issue. If you start with my perspective then you look for what mechanisms within the Constitution would come into play in negotiating a voluntary mutually agreeable secession. Under those circumstances it would not be a stretch to read each enumerated power as containing within itself the ability to transfer that power to a State that seceded. Property formerly belonging to the United States could be transferred or sold to the newly independent State. If the Secession were not mutually agreed upon then it would make little difference what the Constitution said on the issue.
212 posted on 12/13/2002 6:05:59 PM PST by Libertarianize the GOP
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