Secession and Actual Democracy

If one takes a moment to observe the present day size of yesterday's worldly empires, noteablely Greece, France, Great Britain & Rome it is evident that in the end, "small was beautiful'.

If France today witnessed it's government with a 30% or less approval rating, hence it's people would call a general strike and that government would grind to a halt and be headed for ouster rather quickly. But that is an example of "a government controlled by it's people". Ironically, the USA who's founding principles set out to do even more than that, has crashed and burned, with it's leader now having only a 24% approval and it's Congress at 11%. As for it's people, they have no control of the situation, rather the situation keeps gaining more control over them.

American democracy now being dismantled from it's citizenry is left with only one alternative; "secession". For a "regional example", eventually the peoples of the States of let's say, "New York" and the "New England States" for instance, will find that their only hopes of securing their borders, reducing their federal budgets, cutting their property taxes and remedying their immigration, medical and socials ills, will be to secede from the Union of the United States and to form their own neighboring country. It is America's inevitable fate in the end. All it needs is the first shining example and all it's war machinery needs is to be brought under a more sane control by "a flight of funds"!

(Try pondering your State for a moment along with some of it's neighbors and consider what type of "new country" you might come up with.)

Paul Casson
Minnesota, USA

American Secession Project Status

It seems appropriate at some point in the course of a project like this to step back and evaluate the progress that has been achieved. This project began in earnest on May 27, 2004. The original charter of the project is exactly the same today as it was almost three and a half years ago, that is:

...to place the concept of secession in the mainstream of political thought. Our intent is to proclaim that secession is a viable and legal right and a practical solution to contemporary problems. Secondly, we desire to build a coalition of groups seeking autonomy and independence within the current United States. Mutual support for the concept of self-determination and secession will eventually benefit all groups seeking freedom.

How exactly has the project measured up in achieving this goal you might ask. Certainly much has been accomplished over all in terms of placing secession closer to mainstream thought and certainly coalitions have begun to form with the notion of mutual support. These are wonderful events, two national Secessionist Conventions have occurred since the formation of the ASP. It would be dishonest, and narcissistic, to believe that the ASP actually had much or anything to do with this progress. Our great allies in this struggle accomplished these feats, we owe much to The Middlebury Institute, The Vermont Commons, The League of The South and the Second Vermont Republic. One cannot mention the current secession movement in America without thinking of Kirkpatrick Sale, he has been the most vocal advocate for secession as a legitimate and legal resource of the people and states over the last three years. There are of course many others that have championed this cause and forced the issue into the national media. Cory Burnell was the driving force and face and voice of Christian Exodus - this forced the issue of secession into the news media. The League of The South published the Grey Book, a manifesto for Southern Independence, and groups in Hawaii and other states expanded their membership base.

Still you ask, what exactly has the ASP done to further the cause and accomplish our charter? Our accomplishments have been small compared to our allies - this much is certain. We are not ashamed of this, in fact we rejoice that we are not a lone voice in the wilderness. We take great pride in being part of something that will ultimately, we believe, change the very nature of human liberty and government on the American continent.

Our meager accomplishment:

• 44, 315 unique visitors to our main site - this is of course a small number of hits considering the time frame but we do receive a lot of email, much from students doing research for school. A visit to our site is often the first honest treatment of secession these young minds have ever experienced.
• Published The Secessionist Papers, a collection of 20 essays dealing with numerous aspects of secession. The list of contributors that have agreed to participate includes notable authors such as Dr. Walter Brock, Dr, Thomas E. Woods, Kirkpatrick Sale and Thomas J. DiLorenzo.
  
• Created the States' Rights Bloggers' Alliance, a coalition of 30 blogs dealing with the issue of States' Rights specifically and secession occasionally.
• Published the Declaration of States' Rights, with 235 signatures collected thus far.
• Started an ASP Google Mail list Group with 31 members, small but growing.
  
• Operated four blogs with a total of 53,342 unique visitors during the period. (visit The League of The Scarlet Pimpernel for our 'freshest' content)
• Participated in two doctoral research projects concerning secession issues.

What do we hope to accomplish over the next three years (and how you can help)

1. Gather 10,000 signatures for the Declaration of States' Rights. How? See below.
   
2. Get some governmental body - state legislature or even county council - to pass a resolution supporting the Declaration of States' Rights. Why? A resolution of support would of course not make this law but it certainly would make news and it would be a step in the right direction to have a local government stand up and say that enough is enough.
   
3. Breath life into this particular blog with regular updates on secession issues in America and around the world.
   
4. Expand the States' Rights Bloggers' Alliance by actively engaging like minded bloggers across the blogsphere and encouraging them to join with us in this important discussion.
   
5. Create Volume II of the Secessionist Papers , written and published for the common man.
   

How do you help?

• We need a blogger, someone familiar with the blogsphere that has the time, energy and commitment to dedicate to this blog and the States' Rights Bloggers' Alliance (or a team of bloggers). This person or people must be willing to update regularly to the blogs with fresh content and be willing and able to tactfully engage others on their blogs via comments and trackbacks. Interested? Please email.
  
• State organizations already exist in many states, The Declaration of States' Rights is an easy tool to build consensus in states where organizations do not already exist. We need people that love their states to stand up and engage their neighbors. Encourage them to sign the declaration, encourage your county council to pass a resolution supporting the Declaration. All politics are local, stand up and act locally, realizing that others will support you by acting locally in their homes and states. Real freedom in our time will not be achieve without such overt acts.
  
• Encourage like-minded writers, academics, and even lawyers to submit new essays for Volume II of the Secessionist Papers. Our message must cover the entire spectrum of the issue, current political troubles, historical precedence as well and legal and Constitutional interpretations. A movement like this cannot move forward without such a philosophical underpinning.
  
• Bottom line ---- Get Involved!
  

MySpace Page

If major corporations can do it so can ASP. We have a new MySpace page- Visit us and "be our friend"

CHATTANOOGA DECLARATION

Read The Chattanooga Declaration here and be sure to sign the Declaration of States' Rights.