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Would You Vote For Independence For Your State?
Yesterday, Peter asked how we all would vote on independence for Scotland, but I have a question for you: if you could be certain it wouldn’t cause a war, would you vote for independence for your state?
Now, I realize that the question is very different from Peter’s — Scotland having a very long and very different history from England, different people, different language, different culture — but I think it’s still relevant.
In my case, I live in New York State and I would vote an emphatic No. The nut of the case is that — if governments must exist — they should do so only to protect the rights of their citizens.
Despite meeting not far from my house, I don’t trust the New York State Legislature to protect my rights. As terrible as Uncle Sam is, I have a better shot of the Constitution of the United States protecting my rights than the State of New York.
I don’t know how to answer Peter’s question. While on general principle, I’d prefer smaller and smaller polities (preferably the smallest possible one, the individual) living in New York and not Scotland, I don’t have enough information. I don’t know which way to vote to have my rights better protected. The living under the control of White Hall sounds terrible, but Holyrood sounds worse, somehow. But like I said, I don’t have enough information.
So, again, how would you vote for independence for your state? If you live somewhere other than the US, please modify appropriately to province, or canton, or whatever, as per your local situation.
Image Credit: Shutterstock user spirit of america.
Published in General
I was going to write something about that a couple of months ago. I may do that.
The obnoxious part would be the Westchester people who think they’re part of Upstate.
As an Okie, I have to be blunt: The greatest threat to my freedom, my prosperity, my way of life, does not come from ISIS, or Iran, or Vladimir Putin. It comes from Illinois and California and New York.
Not so long ago I would have considered such a statement absurd and alarmist.
But it is now apparent that the Democrat party is becoming a fascist party. That is extreme language, intemperate to be sure, but the evidence is all around us.
So would I like to isolate my hometown from the Democrat party?
Good God, yes.
Northern Idaho is amazing! Elk hunting and trout fishing….everywhere you look is a postcard.
A no from NH here. I identify with the US well before my state. Partially because I’ve lived in multiple states. Even if the US could get along without NH (and you know you couldn’t) a small state cannot realistically fend for itself in a big bad world without being within the orbit of a larger entity. Although right now Canada looks pretty good … ;-)
As a proud Tennessean I have no problem saying………WE GONE! I prefer the idea of secession along with a confederation of states that are ready to cut the federal purse strings but I’m pretty sure we could arrange trade and protection agreements with other independent states and we have access to the mississippi river for goods going to the coast.
I’m living in California…so yes….and then get the hell out fast…Idaho or Montana me thinks.
I’m torn. Oregon away from the Federal government would soon find its liberal schemes collapse for lack of Federal dollars. The Progressive legislature and executive branches would tax and regulate the heck out of everyone here to make up the difference, only to find that they’re not even getting a fraction of what they planned because they went overboard.
On the downside, Oregon has moved towards Progressive coercion more and more on social issues, and an Oregon stripped from the United States and its Constitution would be prey to the social engineering of the more enthusiastic Progressives. The result would be a lot less freedom.
On the gripping hand, drugs would be totally legal here.
I would move to California and then vote for independence. Then I’d emigrate. To New York…
This exists no matter where you go, I think. Eastern Washington is decidedly Red, while Western Washington is just as Blue as the east is Red. I live in Whatcom county, arguably the most liberal county in the state. The primary municipality is Bellingham, and the voting within the city limits makes us look like we’ve been holding our breath for a long time. There have been at various times calls for splitting the county in half. It never gets anywhere, however.
Spoken by a white man (if your avatar is something to go by). I find the very idea, that blacks are less free now, than they were 50 years ago to be offensive.
To quote a great man:
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
America is not perfect. But go tell a 70 year old black man from Georgia that he is less free now than he was as a child in the south.
What utter nonsense.
The premise of this post is really not that far-fetched.
Angry with Washington, 1 in 4 Americans open to secession
No, never. I’ve lived in Pennsylvania most of my life, and I currently sit not too far from where our Founding Fathers framed the Constitution. Gettysburg is the site of one of the bloodiest battles in the Civil War. I feel as if my state and my nation are bound together for all time, and if they weren’t I’d be a different person. The notion is, frankly, nauseating to me.
I would imagine that Alaska would suffer very heavily at first it it was independent, given how sizable the military population is. But after a few decades of no EPA and taking full advantage of its limitless minerals and oils, it would hold up just fine on its own.
But Alaska is very weird politically. It is a pretty conservative state, but tends to vote democratic for its senators, heavily republican in the legislature, and employs more state workers per capita than any state in the union. It also has some of the most Byzantine hunting and fishing regulations I’ve ever seen. But we’re on the road to legalizing marijuana. It’s like if Texas and Colorado sired a child, it would be Alaska.
I’m not sure about New Jersey as a whole. I could do South Jersey if Camden and Atlantic City remain part of North Jersey.
Well, as someone living in California (I’ve been here 18 years, but still can’t think of myself as a Californian), I’d probably have to move after secession, since CA would likely go even darker blue. But even if it ended up red through some miracle, I don’t think it would be good overall. As frustrating as it is, I think it’s healthier to fight for conservative principles here, and hope the pendulum swings back someday. In other words, I don’t want to live in a semi-prosperous Balkans.
The key is not to argue for your state to secede (i.e. Texas).
It’s to argue for the other guy to secede (i.e. NY, California etc.)
If California, for example, secedes, the rest of the country will do better. The hippies and moochers will flock to California, since undoubtedly it will promise heaven and earth to them, while the productive members of society will leave California for the rest of the country.
Similar argument as to why England…should…have sought Scottish independence, instead of preventing it.
In California, absolutely. Just give me a chance to get out first.
Since I live in California, it would be pointless and maybe counter-productive to vote to opt out of the union.
The key is for you to get out after (or during, or before).
I.e., the aim would be to get the US to be a better country by localizing the most extreme leftist ideologues in one locale. Creating an independent state which caters to their needs, would be the way to do it. Otherwise, they will continue to exert their power in politics in the US.
I’d go much more extreme than that and say that probably the entire West Coast, and the entirety of the New England should be candidates for independent countries.
The rest of the US could easily assure them that we will foot the bill for their defense (in exchange for them transferring all the weapons and personnel left over in their countries), and of course maintain unrestricted free trade with them. So the only practical effect would be to have truly separate political institutions.
People can then self-select on whether they want to live in the People’s Republics, or in America.
While “we” would certainly get a lot of the same sort of “refugees” we have been getting from the Blue States, such as here in Texas which is being flooded by North Easterners and Californian’s whose first reaction to everything Texas is “your public transportation sucks!”, I suspect they will be greatly outweighed by the productive refugees who will come too.
Here’s the thing, however. Today we’re not so easily separated by lines such as “Slave State” and “Anti-Slave State”. There is a deep and growing divide in our politics, culture, and society, sure, but it’s rarely a state-by-state process. Every state as a portion of either side. If you’re state is shown one color or another on the television, it’s just because one faction outnumbers the other.
In fact, in some of the more blue states, if the cities just seceded to form independent city-states it would drastically alter the political landscape there. There is no logical demarcation to determine which state leaves or stays beyond geography, which does little to solve the cultural, social, and political divides which separate us today.
So no to leaving. I think secession is a fool’s game.
Secession worked out quite well for the thirteen colonies.
Mike, you’re a military historian so I need not remind you that the world has become a far more complicated and dangerous place. I think this country needs all the economic and military might of her 44 productive states, to work diligently to restore two more who are individually capable of producing more GDP than entire countries, and to force the remaining four parasites out of the loop altogether.
But as a successful businesswoman, surely you can understand my reluctance to throw good money after bad.
You might have noticed I made this point at #20. I only disagree with you in that you’ve chosen the states (NY/CA) that produce more donuts that any two in the union. Let’s try to make them more productive because I don’t want to live in a country without their fiscal attributes.
We totally agree in theory but may disagree as to who to keep and who to discard :-)
I say it is a privilege to be a member of the U.S. and four of the stars on the flag aren’t keeping up their end of the bargain.
Yes, we definitely agree that those freeloaders riding in the wagon need to get out and do some pulling with the rest of us! :-)
Not sure why my last comment came out in such a small font…
This has happened to me thrice.
Well, better than being thrice divorced and living in a van down by the river, I reckon. ;-)