Western Maryland secessionists seek to sever ties with the liberal Free State

Washington Post ^ | 9/8/2013

[markomalley]

The push by 50 western Virginia counties to secede in 1863, forming West Virginia at the height of the Civil War, was led by a charismatic store-clerk-turned-lawyer who famously urged his supporters: “Cut the knot now! Cut it now! Apply the knife.”

West Virginia was the last state to break off from another. Now, 150 years later, a 49-year-old information technology consultant wants to apply the knife to Maryland’s five western counties. “The people are the sovereign,” says Scott Strzelczyk, leader of the fledgling Western Maryland Initiative, and the western sovereigns are fed up with Annapolis’s liberal majority, elected by the state’s other sovereigns.

“If you think you have a long list of grievances and it’s been going on for decades, and you can’t get it resolved, ultimately this is what you have to do,” says Strzelczyk, who lives in New Windsor, a historic town of 1,400 people in Carroll County. “Otherwise you are trapped.”

Strzelczyk’s effort is one of several across the country to separate significant portions of states from, as he puts it, “the dominant ruling class.” Nearly a dozen northern Colorado counties are the furthest along, with nonbinding referendums set for November ballots. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is making a move to join with parts of Wisconsin. Northern California counties want to form a state called Jefferson.

Historians, political scientists and the leaders of the movements say secession efforts are being fueled by irreconcilable differences on issues such as gun control, taxes, energy policy, gay marriage and immigration — all subjects of recent legislative efforts at state and federal levels. The notion of compromise is a non-starter. With secessionists, the term “final straw” comes up a lot.

[exDemMom]

Excellent. I work in one of those counties and live in another. I doubt it will happen, though.

[exit82]

Article IV,Section 3 of the US Constitution:

Section. 3.

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

The semi-colon makes it clear that no state can be formed within the jurisdiction of any other state. West Virginia separated from Virginia, and then was admitted as a NEW state in 1863.

It appears that anew state formed by the juncture of existing ones or parts of adjacent states could be formed, but the State legislature and the Congress would have to be in agreement.

[cyclotic]

Can they add Harford County?...Please?

[Blood of Tyrants]

I have been proposing that there are at least 10 states with cities like Seattle, WA and Chicago and Portland, and Philadelphia that have a disproportionate control over the other cities in the state.

[crusher]

There are only three communist jurisdictions in The Peoples’ Republic of ?Maryland — Baltimore (Detroit with crabcakes), Montgomery County (Berzerkely but with more money), and Prince George’s County (from whence I am escaping as we speak) — and the remaining places are conservative. But, the Evil Three are enough to keep any Rat in power.

[Pining_4_TX]

This was predicted in the book, The Sovereign Individual. It’s a very interesting read. The authors, Davidson and Rees-Mogg, say that the large nation states will break up, and we may even see the return of political entities such as city-states. This will not happen without significant chaos.

We live in interesting times.

[Jack Hydrazine]

What did they base their prediction on?

[Jack Hydrazine]

If what Antony Watts says is true in this article

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/09/08/the-climate-grain-production-relationship-quantified/

I could see this as another factor in that occurring.

[Pining_4_TX]

The book goes back through history and discusses government and the use of force, how the use of force by various entities affects political organization, and what technology has done to sort of level the playing field in the use of force. That more poweful weapons are now available to smaller groups is why ragtag goat herders in Afghanistan could kick the Soviets out and are doing a pretty good job of getting rid of us, too.

The authors contend that approximately every 500 years, there is a major world event that drastically changes everything. Oddly enough, each seems to occur around the 500, 1000, 1500, and 2000 marks. The modern one was the fall of the Soviet Union, occurring around the time of the turn of the century. These major changes are always accompanied by chaos, so it means we are in for a bumpy ride. Governments will be toppled and nations will fall apart.

I find this book fascinating. The suthors are libertarian secular types, but I see the hand of God working through history as I read the book. It’s probably out of print, but you might be able to get it cheaply at amazon or a used book store.

[Jack Hydrazine]

I don’t think it was the fall of the Soviet Union that was the major event. I think it could be the rejection of collectivist totalitarianism on a global scale by most people.

[Pining_4_TX]

That is perhaps another way of putting it. The result is, of course, the large nation states can’t hold it together any more. People are seeing that their governments aren’t worth the cost and can’t even protect them, which is the primary reason for government to exist, so they are looking for a way out.

I think you will see more and more secessionist movements as people become increasingly ticked off at their rulers. And I do mean rulers, because the people who run government certainly don’t act like the public servants they pretend to be.

[Jack Hydrazine]

The Internet is helping people to see their leaders for who they are.

[Pining_4_TX]

Thanks, that was interesting.

[Jack Hydrazine]

From what I have found on the Internet human civilization goes through 500 year cycles like you have mentioned. Definitely worth the time to do more reading on this.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. Sims, which holds that both houses of each state legislature have proportional representation, is partly responsible for what we're witnessing today. In any state with a large, urban majority, both legislative houses are usually liberal/Democrat, withe the resulting political and economic oppression. If each state had one legislative house representing counties on an equal basis, the way the U.S. senate represents states on an equal basis, a lot of bad legislation could be stopped by such houses, and there would not be a perceived need to secede.

Maryland "Freak State" PING!

[Palio di Siena]

The whole eastern shore would go if they could.
St Mary’s and Calvert county, as well.
Hell, EVERY county in maryland with a white majority would vote to leave.

[Palio di Siena]

Charles county is on the edge of darkness.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Maryland has long had discontent. Westerners AND Easterners. Eastern Shore MD made public comments about a decade ago.

We are not all liberal. Just totally dominated by Trayvon’s relatives and FedGov limousine liberals.