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central va....you and I and others have argued about secession before.....at length.

I restate my previous points.

States do not have rights, they have powers, and only those granted in the Constitution. The phrase “right to secede” does not exist anywhere in the Constitution or any Amendments.

Consider this: No state government can force its residents to quit their US citizenship. That’s what happens by secession.

Secession is a power held only by our Federal government, that’s what makes us a Republic.

The US Constitution is silent on the subject of state secession. You sound like a tyrant type. I am glad I don't have any personal dealings with you.

Secession is the utlimate states right.

There is a question as to whether the new Constitution of 1789 implied a new union. I would argue not, just like France's adoption of a new Constitution in 1958 did not create a new country, merely a different government.

The Constitution of 1789 created a new national government ratified by a popular vote. Though the vote was organized by each state, ratification depended on the popular vote of each state not the individual approval of the state governments. The state governments assented to be bound by approval of 2/3 of the states' popular votes. This created the odd situation of each inhabitant being a citizen both of the state and of the nation, or dual sovereignty. This is something most foreigners simply give you a deer in the headlights look about if you try to explain it to them.

It would seem to me that any secession would need to be run in reverse, with a petition to amend the Constitution to allow that state to leave pending approval of 2/3 of the each states' population in a referendum.