I hadn’t been giving much thought to the secessionists until I saw how deeply they bothered Coble and then another friend of mine told me he thought it was a good idea. I laughed and told him I’m not sure life as a Basque separatist suited him.
But then I got to thinking about it on the walk this morning and I think that this is one of those times when it’s really obvious that people don’t know their history. Because, even if we let, say, “Tennessee” secede, do these fools really think the U.S. government would give “Tennessee” the land it sits on?! We have a LONG track record, going back to the very founding of our country of relations with sovereign nations who share this land with us that don’t have big enough armies to defend this land (even if they are well enough armed that getting this land from them is very difficult).
Name me just one time when we’ve said “You can have all this land that we want and already kind of consider ours and we promise we won’t make your lives miserable about it” and stuck to it. Show me once in history where we’ve said “Of course you can live on the land of your ancestors unfucked with even though we want that land for ourselves.”
Do the secessionists think we’d do better by them than we did, say, the Cherokee? Why? Because the Secessionists are “civilized?” White? We considered the Cherokee civilized when we set out to either annihilate them or drive them out of Tennessee and “we” white people were intermarried with “them.”
Do secessionists think the U.S. wouldn’t dare pull any bullshit like Indian Removal on them with the whole world watching? Motherfuckers, we drone strike children and wedding parties with the whole world watching and we don’t even bat an eye. “Dealing with” separatists? Who’s going to complain? Not our allies. So, who? Russia? China? Look how they deal with their separatists. So, I doubt it.
It’s a fairy tale in a lot of ways–this secessionist talk. But the rosy faith it has in the United States government to behave with honor if this extremely unlikely scenario were somehow to come to pass is kind of charming. Contrary to all our history and current way of being in the world, but charming.
Tiny Cat Pants 
And no one seems to remember that secession didn’t end so well the last time, either.
There is a petition going around Austin to have Austin secede from Texas if Texas was to secede. Now that just tickles me.
True enough! I guess in this fantasy, they think they’re going to get a well-supplied army as a parting gift or something?
Austin is awesome.
We used to call this kind of thing treason.
What does it really take to secede anyway? Have they thought the process through at all? How do they think they’d pay for anything (especially if they can’t raise taxes)? I have the feeling they’d see that the federal government isn’t so bad after all, but it would be a disaster in the interim. I feel the same about Romney’s plan to shift everything over to the states. Whatever is shifted still has to be paid for – just out of a different pot. If a state can’t balance its budget now, how will that be different if it secedes?
The amount of ignorance among the secessionists is making me as angry as I’ve ever been. Almost irrationally so. Because the main one of my acquaintance is an author / military wife and mother / Christian who has two sons in the Marine Corps. Two. Sons. In. The. Corps. And she’s decided that this petition is her way of being able to say to The Government that She Just Wants Them To Get Their Shit Together. Because nothing says “be more grown-up” than throwing an adolescent-style temper fit. When I called her on this she gave me the usual platitudes about Loving America and….I just… the cognitive dissonance makes me angry. They don’t understand any of the ramifications (potential and actual) of their actions. They’re instead acting like 15 year olds at their first sit-in, awed by their very own awesome coolness by Making A Statement.
The main thought that keeps occuring to me is “these people have a vote that counts THE EXACT SAME AS MINE.”
“When I called her on [her desire to tear apart and no longer be part of America] she gave me the usual platitudes about Loving America”
I don’t have anything to add. Just though this statement needed repeating.