If At First You Don’t Secede…

Those who’d like to split America through secession met in Chatanooga, Tennessee:

Tired of foreign wars and what they consider right-wing courts, the Middlebury Institute wants liberal states like Vermont to be able to secede peacefully.

That sounds just fine to the League of the South, a conservative group that refuses to give up on Southern independence.

“We believe that an independent South, or Hawaii, Alaska, or Vermont would be better able to serve the interest of everybody, regardless of race or ethnicity,” said Michael Hill of Killen, Ala., president of the League of the South.

Separated by hundreds of miles and divergent political philosophies, the Middlebury Institute and the League of the South are hosting a two-day Secessionist Convention starting Wednesday in Chattanooga.

They expect to attract supporters from California, Alaska and Hawaii, inviting anyone who wants to dissolve the Union so states can save themselves from an overbearing federal government.

If allowed to go their own way, New Englanders “probably would allow abortion and have gun control,” Hill said, while Southerners “would probably crack down on illegal immigration harder than it is being now.”

It’s interesting that the cauldron of secession is stirring from both left and right now, and that it’s stirring together. One common question seems to be what exactly would the federal government do about secession as Doiug at Right Mind asks:

But if Vermont were to actually vote for secession, would the Feds send in troops, killing a quarter of their citizens, forcing them to stay in the Union? Times have changed…

Indeed, the feds would have some trouble responding in a warlike fashion, particularly from a political standpoint. How many secession and union bodies are we likely to tolerate before people start demanding an end to the war. My guess is less than 1,000. Of course, secessionists would face much sabotage if there were long comments. There are far left communists in places like Idaho, Alabama, and North Carolina, and Conservative Evangelicals in places like California and Hawaii.

That’s perhaps, secession’s greatest challenge. The world of the 1850s was far more homengenous in both North and South. People had limited contact with others from outside their region (other than for military adventures) which made it a lot easier to contemplate seperating and a lot easier to shoot at “Yankees” or “Rebs.” The flow of people throughout America that makes defending against a secession harder also makes seceding harder.

I’m not for secession, myself. If we’d actually followed the tenth amendment, this would address most concerns raised by secessionists on all sides. Too many lives have been lost preserving our nation and our way of life to thoughtlessly toss it aside for a secession that would economically weaken our country, as well as destroying our position in the world. Secession is a last resort where all other options for peace and harmony have been exhausted and until Americans on any region are sold on that, it’s a no go.