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Is all the
recent talk of secession mere sour grapes over the election, or perhaps
something deeper? Currently there are active petitions in support of
secession for all 50 states, with Texas taking the lead in number of signatures.
Texas has well over the number of signatures needed to generate a response
from the administration, and while I wouldn't hold my breath on Texas
actually seceding, I believe these petitions raise a lot of worthwhile
questions about the nature of our union.
Is it
treasonous to want to secede from the United States? Many think the question
of secession was settled by our Civil War. On the contrary; the principles of
self-governance and voluntary association are at the core of our founding.
Clearly Thomas Jefferson believed secession was proper, albeit as a last
resort. Writing to William Giles in 1825, he concluded that states:
"should separate from our companions only when the sole
alternatives left, are the dissolution of our Union with them, or submission
to a government without limitation of powers."
Keep in
mind that the first and third paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence
expressly contemplate the dissolution of a political union when the
underlying government becomes tyrannical.
Do we have
a "government without limitation of powers" yet? The Federal
government kept the Union together through violence and force in the Civil
War, but did might really make right?
Secession
is a deeply American principle. This country was born through secession. Some
felt it was treasonous to secede from England, but those "traitors"
became our country's greatest patriots.
There is
nothing treasonous or unpatriotic about wanting a federal government that is
more responsive to the people it represents. That is what our Revolutionary
War was all about and today our own federal government is vastly overstepping
its constitutional bounds with no signs of reform. In fact, the recent
election only further entrenched the status quo. If the possibility of
secession is completely off the table there is nothing to stop the federal
government from continuing to encroach on our liberties and no recourse for
those who are sick and tired of it.
Consider
the ballot measures that passed in Colorado and Washington state regarding
marijuana laws. The people in those states have clearly indicated that they
are ready to try something different where drug policy is concerned, yet they
will still face a tremendous threat from the federal government. In
California, the Feds have been arresting peaceful medical marijuana users and
raiding dispensaries that state and local governments have sanctioned.
This shouldn't happen in a free country.
It remains
to be seen what will happen in states that are refusing to comply with the
deeply unpopular mandates of Obamacare by not setting up
healthcare exchanges. It appears the Federal government will not respect those decisions
either.
In a free
country, governments derive their power from the consent of the governed.
When the people have very clearly withdrawn their consent for a law, the
discussion should be over. If the Feds refuse to accept that and continue to
run roughshod over the people, at what point do we acknowledge that that is
not freedom anymore? At what point should the people dissolve the political
bands which have connected them with an increasingly tyrannical and
oppressive federal government? And if people or states are not free to leave
the United States as a last resort, can they really think of themselves as
free?
If a
people cannot secede from an oppressive government, they cannot truly be
considered free.
Ron Paul
Full Transcript via Campaign
For Liberty
Full video of Paul's address, courtesy of C-SPAN, is
posted here:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/11/ron-paul-departs-with-our-c...
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