Secession: It’s a Southern thing
Thursday, May 7, 2009
For now, at least. In response to a Daily KOS poll, there were significant regional differnces in response to the question, "Do you think the state that you live in would be better off as an independent nation or as part of the United States of America?" Secession clearly strikes a chord in the hearts of Southerners, as the Washington Monthly reports:
In the Northeast, there’s near unanimity about staying in the United States. The numbers are nearly as strong in the West and Midwest. But in the South, only 61% expressed support for keeping the union together, 9% believe their state would be better off as an independent nation (the other regions were below 5%), and 30% aren’t sure.
The article finds these differences "intriguing," but doesn’t attempt to analyze why they exist. Here are a couple of suggestions.
Northeastern domination is the dirty little secret of American politics, a fact that was established by the sword in 1865. For example, for the first time in American history, eight of the nine justices attended one of only two law schools: Harvard or Yale.
Meanwhile, the New York Federal Reserve continues to pretty much control policy for the other 11 regional banks.
Same-sex "marriage," a product of the "enlightened" Northeast, is coming our way, like it or not. And yes, we will have to recognize that chimera as if it were the norm.
Add to that the growing realization that an oversized superstate with unnaturally centralized control is doomed to increasingly frequent government intervention, and eventually, to total societal breakdown as all initiative and freedom to act become the sole property of a self-serving bureaucracy. As Thomas Jefferson observed, "Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread."
Such a state of affairs is fast approaching. Can we take pre-emptive action to prevent it, or do we wait until the landslide to rebuild on a more human, more local, more responsive scale? That’s the question of the hour, and the growing interest in secession is the clearest sign that more people grasp what the real problem is. Pray for wisdom.
On The Web: www.dixienet.org/rebellion/2009/05/secession-its-southern-thing.html
