according to a new poll from zogby international and the middlebury institute, an astonishing 22% of americans believe that a state has the right to "peaceably secede from the United States and become an independent republic". 18% would even support a secession movement in their own home state.
even more telling is the fact that "backing was strongest among younger adults, as 40% among those age 18 to 24 and 24% among those age 25 to 34 agreed states and regions have secession rights." i'm at the far end of the 18-24 demographic, and i'm a full supporter of california secession, if necessary.
older folks might be astonished at the idea, or the level of support, but it makes complete sense. i was 16 when the supreme court appointed bush as president. 18-year-olds were 10. for us young voters, most of our formative moments in american politics involved the reign of dubya. my dad got 'ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do from your country', the apollo program, and then nixon and stagflation. we've gotten blowjobs and the decider.
think to yourself: when was the last time the federal government did something good for you?
i doubt that it would come to that, but it's nice to know that states are asserting their states rights. vermont has a burgeoning secession movement. oklahoma recently attempt to assert its sovereignty via the tenth amendment ("The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.").
as for me, my take lately has been the following:
i pay to build alabama's freeways and infrastructure through my federal taxes.
alabama supports republicans and the wars, costing me even more money and reputation abroad.
alabama's full of religious zealots that i do not agree with in the slightest, and i couldn't even argue with properly since their education system is a shitty mess.
how am i benefiting from this relationship?
(for the record, alabama's just a placeholder. replace it with any number of states full of ignorant dipshits. the results are the same.)
it would be a nasty breakup, but i think i'd be willing to pledge allegiance to the california republic.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
she said it wasn't a breakup, just a 'break'.
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3 responses:
From what I understand, states have no legal foothold for secession. I know that Texas's entrance into the union came under the condition that the federal government would not stop them if they were ever to secede. I don't think the other states have any similar legal guarantee.
For my part, I would move out of California if it seceded, either back to the union or to a different newly-seceded state more aligned with my conservative values.
well, the legal foothold seems mostly to be built on the UN-recognized principle of self-determination, and once again the tenth amendment. i'm fairly certain supreme court struck down the legality of secession post-civil war.
pragmatically speaking, i don't think there's any way it would happen amicably, but it's fun to speculate.
Sure. Give it another 40 or 50 years, and who knows? The federal government may lack the resources to prevent that type of thing from happening. Lots of whacky stuff can happen.
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