When they began popping up there was no doubt a level of humor to be taken from the online secession petitions to the White House. They were political statements more so than  declarations. Furthermore, the petitions hold no political weight whatsoever. Something as extralegal as secession would have to be decided at levels higher than a few hundred thousand activists.

However, they are not so funny anymore. They are indicative to the mood and outrage of the nations itself, and they are growing. I’d like to state upfront that it isn’t solely because of President Obama. Is he to blame? Absolutely, but so are his 43 predecessors who each did their part to expand the powers of the presidency while in office. Yes, every one of them. The only difference between them is that some did more to expand those powers than others. It’s called human nature.

We can blame the two party system and the degree to which they have driven wedges between the rest of us, and the way Washington works as a consequence.

We can blame special interests and identity politics that have helped to Balkanize America.

We can blame Congress for acquiescing to the executive branch when clearly they have a Constitutional duty to do otherwise.

We can blame state governments for selling bits and pieces of their sovereignty and authority to the federal government in exchange for grants and other funding.

We can blame ourselves for allowing things to get to the point they are at now. We took handouts even though we didn’t pay for them. We gripe about a tax system while taking full use of its advantages. Not once during which did we consider the future ramifications of our debt so long as it offered us a level of comfort in the present.

We were handed a beautiful architecture for a Republic, engineered from the concept of federalism, only to turn into a unitary state. We have mutated from a land of a patriots to a pen of sheep.

The petition numbers may not be huge considering the population as a whole, but they are enough to make one pause. Talk of secession should not be made in jest, and neither should a threat to be taken lightly.

Any organization, especially when it comes to a polity and society, exists only as long as people find it legitimate. I think we are a long way off before we have to worry about a collapse in any sense, but everything has a starting point. Let’s hope this isn’t one.

Related articles

• Citizens From Over 30 States Submit Secession Petitions to White House (thenewamerican.com)
• Anti-Secession Threat (lewrockwell.com)
• Texas Secession to be Reviewed by White House (conservativeread.com)
• Drudge Plays Up Secession Talk: “Movement Explodes” (dailypaul.com)
• Secession Movement Explodes (amresolution.com)