Secession Movements Follow Election

Yep, it doesn't take long for people unhappy about the re-election of Barrack Obama to begin finding creative ways to voice their frustrations. There are now petitions from as many as twenty-seven states demanding secession.

On November 7th, the day after President Obama was re-elected, the White House’s website received a petition asking the administration to allow Louisiana to secede. The Louisiana petition has collected more than 12,300 signatures in four days. A separate effort from Texas has 15,400 supporters. Similar petitions from other states began arriving November 9th, bringing the total, for the moment, to 27. The White House website publicly displays petitions that have attracted at least 150 signers.

“Michael E” from the New Orleans suburb of Slidell penned the initial proposal (the website doesn’t provide last names) in which he asked the Obama administration to “peacefully grant the State of Louisiana to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government.” His entire petition consisted of excerpts from the Declaration of Independence.

“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” one portion read, “that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and institute new Government.”

“Micah H” from Arlington, Texas submitted the petition on behalf of the Lone Star State. “The US continues to suffer economic difficulties stemming from the federal government’s neglect to reform domestic and foreign spending,” he wrote. Texas, he added, “maintains a balanced budget and is the 15th largest economy in the world,” making it “practically feasible for Texas to withdraw from the union.”

Other than Louisiana and Texas, states with secession-related petitions pending on the White House website now include Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina and Tennessee. Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina are each represented by two competing petitions.

While most of the petitions mimic the Louisiana effort’s tribute to the Declaration of Independence, Montana’s and Florida’s focus on the same quoted line from Benjamin Franklin: “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

A few abandon the Founding Fathers entirely, going off instead on their own less poetic tangents.
“The Federal Government has imposed policies on Oregon that are not in Oregon’s best interests,” reads one submitted by “Kristopher W” of Tillamook, Oregon. ”and we as citizens would respectively and peacably separate ourselves from a tyrannical Government who cares nothing about creating a sustainable future for our children.”

“just like in 1860,” reads one of the two petitions submitted on behalf of the citizens of Georgia, “the south secede from the union.” “kyle. r” from Cornelia, Georgia added only that in “2012 the state of georgia would like to withdraw from the USA.”

The petitions that followed those from Louisiana and Texas have attracted between 300 and 4,000. The petitions would need a minimum of 25,000 signatures or their chances will expire will expire between December 9th and December 11th.

But, don't start ordering your 23 star US Flags just yet. These "secession" movements are not uncommon following Presidential Elections. There were at least 12 following the last election and over 300 in the last 2 decades. Texas has had a continual movement to secede from the Union ever since it was re-admitted as a state following the Civil War (or "The War of Northern Aggression", as it is referred to in many parts of the South). One group in West Texas went so far as to declare themselves "The Republic of Texas" and even started issuing their own currency and passports (I still have mine and you can get one too by ordering it over the internet and paying a small fee). The Federal Government and the State of Texas were generally amused, until the leader of that movement refused to pay his Federal Income Tax and wound up occupying a cell for a couple of years -not quite the kind of independence he had in mind...

Live Long and Prosper...