Secession petitions surge after Obama win?

Seceding from the United States? One pundit wise-cracked, "Hasn't that been tried before?"
Yes, but a story Monday pointed out that North Carolina had collected more than 10,000 signatures on a petition introduced by Randy Dye of Pittsboro to secede from federal government as a separate and sovereign entity. On that day, it was said to be one of 24 states with petitions on the White House website  website
http://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petitions. The website is a vehicle
established by the Obama administration to allow citizens to take their
concerns directly to the White House. If the petitions get 25,000 signatures the Obama administration will issue a formal response to them.
As this week nears an end, reportedly all 50 states have now secession petitions on the website. Some like South Carolina have two or more, worded slightly differently but with the same intent.

Petitions from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, according to the Inquisitr, had received at least 25,000 signatures as of Wednesday. Palm Beach Post writer Frank Cerabino said the secessions were sparked by President Obama's presidential win: "Since President Barack Obama was re-elected ... online petitions of secession have popped up in more than two dozen states," he wrote.

It's not clear when the petitions started or whether Obama's win was the impetus. But it's wishful thinking to hope the petitions will result in any secessions. Remember, we had a Civil War to settle that issue nearly 150 years ago. The new movie "Lincoln" could be a good flick to see as an apt reminder. Better yet go online or get a book and read the Gettysburg Address, delivered by President Abraham Lincoln on Nov. 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldier's National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pa., four months after the Battle of Gettysburg which helped end the war.  

Particularly poignant are these words: "Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure...It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion."

The Civil War ended and the union was kept intact. Even Gov. Rick Perry, who has talked about a Texas secession in the past, now speaks more circumspectly: “Gov. Perry believes in the greatness of our Union and nothing should be done to change it," his spokesman said this week. "But he also shares the frustrations many Americans have with our federal government,”

 The petitions appearing on the White House website do affirm a basic tenet of the U.S. government that was preserved in that great war. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees every citizen's right to petition your government. On the website is a ragtag array of petitions. There's one to outlaw offending prophets of major religions - 37,134 have signed that; there's one supporting mandatory labelling of genetically engineered foods - 43,065 signed that; there's even one to deport anyone who has signed a petition to withdraw or secede from the U.S. -16,374 signed that. The ones supporting federal legalization of marijuana get the most signers - more than 85,000 have signed the three or more petitions on that subject.

A perfect union, this is not. But it's still pretty good.

What do you think about secession talk?

Posted by Fannie Flono

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