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.”
“What does it mean to be unAmerican? Who decides what is American or unAmerican behavior? Most people that came to this country wanted personal freedom and an unintrusive government. They simply wanted to be self-sufficient and to enjoy the fruits of their work. They wanted the freedom to raise their children without government interference and to worship God as they wished. They were willing to fight and die for these freedoms. Those are examples of what it means to be an American. If a government no longer honors those ideals, is it American to support such a government?”
You have summed it up very well. And to answer your question, NO it is not American to just give up and support such a government.
***Obama can be voted out***
That is a very great assumption you have going. What makes you think, given all that Obama has done in the last 3 months, that there will 1) even be elections and 2) if there are, that they will be fair (especially with Rahm Emmanuel controlling the census and ACORN controlling the poling places)? As Stalin once said (paraphrasing), “It doesn’t matter who votes, it matters who counts the votes.” With ACORN, there is a guarantee it won’t be fair and no one but Dear Leader will win.
Reference Dear Leaders’ signing into law the “GIVE Act.” He’s already got the mechanism to put into place a “brownshirt” type of civilian corps which would protect ACORN’s activities.
i taught for a while, just after i returned from my first AD tour, at a church-related school in AR, & everyone seemed to be ARMED to the teeth.
i knew of MANY people who owned "highly unlawful" weapons too.- like 1928 TSGs,1918 BMGs,MG34,Schmeissers, Stens & BARs, for example. (OBVIOUSLY, the WW2 lads had "sticky fingers".)
when i went back to AR after my VK died, i found out that there are also MANY G3s,AKs, UZIs & other "more modern" full-autos, around too.
free dixie,sw
free dixie,sw
I'd love to have a BAR - my Dad carried one in WW-II.
From a thread this morning:
New law to ‘manage’ 8 million ‘volunteers’ (Give Act, H.R. 1388)
WorldNetDaily ^ | April 21, 2009 | Bob Unruh
Posted on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 2:20:29 PM by Perseverando
Obama signs huge expansion of youth brigades legislation
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
President Obama today signed into law the “GIVE Act,” H.R. 1388, which massively expands the National Service Corporation and allocates to it billions of dollars, and one executive for the program now says it will allow for the “managing” of up to 8 or 9 million people.
WND has reported on plans to create the corps since Obama told a campaign stop in Colorado Springs last year he wants a “Civilian National Security Force” as big and as well-funded as the U.S. military.
The bill includes a “National Service Reserve Corps” whose members have completed a “term of national service,” “training” and “not less than 10 hours of volunteering each year.”
In a conference call with reporters on the plan, Alan Solomont, chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service, said the 75,000 current members of the AmericCorps program “leverage” about 2.2 million volunteers, and the total of all such volunteers who are managed through the federal program total about 4 million.
He said the possibility with the expanded authorization and funding means that up to 8 or 9 million could be involved.
“If we triple the size of AmeriCorps from 75,000 members to 250,000 members annually, and if we – if those 75,000 AmeriCorps members are currently engaging 2.2. million volunteers a year, we could triple that to 6.6 million volunteers, 250,000 AmeriCorps members. So I think – you can do the math – I think that was about six or seven million, and then we have another half a million in Senior Corps and another million or so in Learn and Serve America [for children],” he said.
WND reported when Obama delivered his Colorado Springs mandate and a copy of the speech provided online
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
free dixie, sw
a friend of mine has a "new" 1907, which was GIVEN to his Grandfather as a "war trophy" after WWI, by the POTUS!!! - Mr. Dawes had purchased a $10,ooo war bond (a HUGE amount of $$$$ in 1917!) & everyone who bought at least $5,ooo in bonds was AUTHORIZED "to receive a war trophy" - some got Luger Carbines with shoulder stocks, some got NEW Mausers, some got Mauser 9mm Schnellfuers!!!.
his '07 Maxim has EVERYTHING with it, too, including the MACHINED white brass oil bottle!!! (WHO but the Germans would be "anal" enough to MACHINE an oil bottle???)
free dixie,sw
That’s a truly frightening prospect.
I do wonder what the Founding Fathers would think of our system today. That nearly 10 million people could be so directly involved in the federal government is mind boggling and downright scary.
I lost everything I owned in the oil fields of Texas and offshore twice; in 1978 and 1985. I don’t think that I will ever go back there although I’ve flown over it several times to work in Roswell.
“Secession was considered by the Founders as a last ditch act of the states to counterbalance the abuses and the power of a strong central government.”
___________
Please cite the section of the Constitution that details the process of Secession.
I remember in January of 1985, standing in line with over 200 men for an $8.00 an hour job, half what I made at the time, getting the job and not having $50.00 to grease the medical technician that was giving the pre-employment physical. I drove to Morgan City for a pre-employment physical prior to taking a crew boat for Comar Offshore out of Sabine, Tx and ran into the same problem; no money to secure a work permit. I left Houston for Myrtle Beach, SC with $80.00 and the clothes on my back in a 1968 International pickup with 600 thousand miles on it that would change six lanes of traffic when you hit the brakes. The bed was split down the middle, and the thing had been cut in half by a train then stitched back together behind the cab. Back in Houston was my new truck, 30 foot travel trailer, and a lot of pride. Didn’t need the pride anyway!
I am so glad you got back on your feet...and wish you the very best..
Thanks, but it is just life. Things will be as bad here in NC before long.
with you all the way and so are many others here in St Augustine and north east FL which you can include the west panhandle FL
the south,midwest and AK could easily go it alone now as we have the energy, oil, agriculture , transportation , ports and business
Only if though that every liberal radical left wing loon, illegals and homosexuals go to their northern utopia.
All conservatives moved down here
Cut the government handouts first.
That would get rid of the majority of them.
Then remove all preference laws, that would get rid of half the remainder.
Tort reform would get rid of a bunch more.
Then remove all PC laws & ability to sue based on those laws.
Immigration should be allowed based heavily on worldview and ideology. The simplest test would be:
What’s the purpose of government:
a) Protect life, liberty, and property
b) Provide necessities to its citizens
c) a and b
any answer other than a) turns the applicant around and sends him home with a quick boot in the ass.
this annoys me
we as a country lead by the left always focus on the blacks but ignore how the natives were treated .
for instance in my town we have a fort named Castillo but the yankees renamed it ft Marion and then it was changed back after the Yankees left the town.
I walked around there and saw a big set up within the fort about blacks and what happened to them , I saw nothing about the natives
I asked a park ranger why there was nothing about the natives especially seeing as Geronimo and his band were held here for nearly two yeas.
The ;park ranger said that she agreed but the trouble is that they are only allowed to cover the black issues and not the natives
seems to the left under the stars and strips the left doesn’t like to talk about that kind of injustice and yet they talk about slavery when in fact it was the Dems who had slavery going
could the lakota be a territory then like Puerto rico,
That way they still can do what they want, run it like they want without the interference of DC?
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