Posted on 04/22/2009 7:12:17 AM PDT by AmericanHunter
When Texas Gov. Rick Perry floated the idea of secession if the federal government continues to pursue an aggressive tax-and-spend policy, the mainstream media, as well as the political establishment, cringed.
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews called talk of secession “whack-job stuff,” calling Mr. Perry a “bozo” and telling the Texas governor, “You don’t have a choice buddy.” Mr. Matthews’ colleague, Rachael Maddow, said Mr. Perry was “flirting to the point of adultery” by talking about secession, while commentator Thomas Frank reinforced the disconnect between the media and many Americans.
“What you’re seeing … what is one of the surprising things about these tea parties … surprising to people like you and me, is how mainstream extremism is in the Republican Party and the conservative movement,” Mr. Frank, author of Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule, told Ms. Maddow.
But is the idea of secession a foreign concept to the American experience? Is talk of secession automatically treasonous? Is any secessionist movement doomed to be defined by the Civil War and exiled to the political wilderness?
“I think the biggest surprise to me was the outrage expressed by an individual who even thinks ... along these lines,” U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, said yesterday on CNN’s American Morning.
“Because I heard people say, well, ‘this was treason,’ they say, and ‘this was un-American.’ But don’t they remember how we came in to our being? We used secession. We seceded from England. So it’s a very good principle. It’s a principle of a free society. It’s a shame we don’t have it anymore.”
Dr. Paul, who ran a hard fought grassroots campaign for the Republican nomination in 2008, argued the principle of secession is one that protects the union rather than threatens it.
“I argue that if you have the principle of secession, our federal government wouldn’t be as intrusive into state affairs. And to me, that would be very good,” Dr. Paul said. “We as a nation have endorsed secession all along. I mean, think of all the secession of the countries and the Republicans from the Soviet system. We were delighted. We love it. And yet we get hysterical over this.”
Critics of the coverage of the secession comment argue the media is trying to paint the Republican Party as extreme. They say Mr. Perry was not advocating secession, but rather saying the federal government could cause its resurrection.
“We got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that?” Mr. Perry asked.
While the notion of secession was floated by Mr. Perry, he was not expressly advocating Texas leave the Union. Rather, the Texas governor used the idea in a manner Dr. Paul believes is historically accurate — to send a warning shot across the bow of a federal government that is encroaching on state’s rights and individual liberties.
Last week’s tea parties exposed a major rift in the country, and some are concerned the Obama administration does not understand the degree of dissent that is fomenting outside the Beltway. And despite panning by the political establishment, the majority of the nation viewed tea party dissent in a favorable light.
Fifty-one percent of Americans had a favorable view of the nationwide rallies, while 32 percent responded their view was very favorable, according to a poll released by Rasmussen Reports. A third of the nation had an unfavorable view with 15 percent unsure.
But among the nation’s “Political Class,” Rasmussen found just 13 percent held a favorable assessment and zero percent held a very favorable view of the nationwide protest. This disconnect, according to Dr. Paul, is a major part of the problem.
“People are angry. And if we don’t sense that, we don’t know it’s actually what’s going on there,” the Texas congressman said. Dr. Paul said the worst is yet to come because secession will achieve a greater legitimacy as the country struggles.
“When the dollar collapses and the federal government can’t fulfill any of its promises, what if they send you dollars and they don’t work,” Dr. Paul said. “People are just going to — they’re not going to have a violent cessation. They’re just going to ignore the federal government because they will be inept.”
That’s why I asked him what he meant by “America”.
“America” is a concept of individual freedom based on the moral precepts of the Christian religion, it is NOT the government in DC, and it is NOT a geographic region (as that has changed dramatically since the founding).
MamaTexan is back!
...AOV starts taunting the anti-secessionist from behind MamaTexan’s back ;-)
If TEXAS wants to LEAVE ... Don’t let the Door him them on the way out... As soon as they do... I will be applying to the new President of Texas for ASYLUM
No amount of calling “coward” or “weakling” is going to make you anything but a cuckold
***Where is it granted in the Bill of Rights?***
10th Amendment. Secession isn’t denied to the states, therefore it is reserved to them.
Perhaps it wouldn’t be as rosy a picture as I paint, but regardless, it doesn’t change the fact that secession is the right of a state.
As for who owns the guns, the vast majority of conservatives I know at least look favorably upon guns. The vast majority of liberals look at them like there is something inherently evil about them. Just my observation.
What legal means would that be? We have a legal right, no an obligation, to throw off corrupt and tyrannical government. I shudder to think what national security secrets Hussein is revealing to our enemies.
The military complied with orders to confiscate firearms in LA in the aftermath of Katrina, and iirc, there were military personal taking part in the siege at Waco.
Get out from there, you little stinker!
[ROFL] Howdy, Vet!
No, they joined together to be come the united States.
Look closely at an image of an original handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence.
And a lot of military personnel look back at that now and see it as a huge mistake. I know I sure as hell wouldn’t order my men to seize weapons. Besides, several states have since passed laws forbidding officers of the law from seizing weapons in times like these (as if the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments didn’t already prohibit this).
The states will eventually have to say that “Law XYZ is null and void because it is not within the Constitutionally delegated powers of the federal government. We will not enforce that law within the boundaries of our state.”””
Keep in mind that corrupt judges routinely throw laws out after they mangle and manipulate the Constitution to pass a ruling that fits their personal agenda. Millions of popular voters have had their efforts cast aside like trash, because a corrupt judge decides it is not “Constitutional.”
Now I’m REALLY enjoying this thread! :)
Be back in an hour or 2...
**confiscate firearms in LA in the aftermath of Katrina,**
that was LA GUARD, and Police ... Both of which run by DEMOCRATS, if I’m not Mistaken.
**military personal taking part in the siege at Waco.**
Clinton and Reno .. DEMS AGAIN
Of which California is the poster child, citizens pass a law.. the state challenges it and throws it out... the citizens vote the law in again and the government says it is unconstitutional for the citizens to vote on it... what the...
You forgot one... Ruby Ridge... Dems
If a “Waco” were to happen today, it wouldn’t just be the shots coming from inside the “compound” that they’d have to worry about.
Exactly. Without governments acknowledgment of a higher Law, it becomes the sole decider OF the law, and that's not what the American birthright is all about.
"Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual."
--Thomas Jefferson to Isaac H. Tiffany, 1819.
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