Secessionist No. 7

Considering Secession

Mr. Brian Puckett of "Citizens of America" recently sent me a copy of an article by him that was published on the Sierra Times website at www.sierraTimes.com. Mr. Puckett is a thoughtful and patriotic man, a leader in the struggle to preserve our constitutional right to own firearms. Sierra Times is a first class web site for people who value freedom.

Why then, do I choose to debate the issue of secession with Mr. Puckett? Well, for one thing, he is against it. The title of his essay was "Secession is Not the Best Solution." Here is his opinion on the matter:
"Before it is all lost before we are subjugated by socialists, before the last vestiges of Constitutional rule are subverted, should we divide the country into states dominated by the two divergent factions?
No, we should not. We should instead drive the socialists out of our schools, out of our government, and out of our lives."

Since I respect his well-reasoned arguments and am aware of his deep commitment to the cause of freedom, I gave the issue some more thought, facing the infinitely difficult task of trying to think like someone who doesn’t agree with me. To do this it was necessary to take the approach that secession is a bad idea. It hurts just to write those words! Yet it wasn’t hard to come up with a lot of reasons why this might be true. As an exercise, let’s look at the issue from that point of view.

First, the obvious one – our first experiment with secession nearly drowned the country in blood. Hundreds of thousands of the best men in America died or were maimed in a war that devastated the South for decades and left many a family on both sides in mourning for years. Yet it must always be remembered – it was Northern troops, under the auspices of an out of control central government, who invaded the South. What choice was there for Southerners? Sometimes it really is necessary to fight. The question that confronts us is two-fold, would it come to that? And if so, is it worth it?

There are administrative issues as well. What of the Federal government programs? What of the media? Who gets what? (I don’t want Sam Donaldson!) What of the military, particularly the nuclear weapons? Who would get the aircraft carriers? How soon could we break up that communist teacher’s union and bring the schools back on board, teaching our values? Would there be civil disorder?

These are serious issues and must be considered.

Having done so, it always comes back to the same old questions. How can long can we tolerate this cesspool into which we and our children have been dragged? We have pretty graphic evidence that the Democratic party, the party of socialism, depravity, abortion and treason, will do virtually anything to retain control of the government apparatus. They already have control of the media and the schools. It is equally true that about one-third of our population supports them, and that demographic is, unfortunately, distributed throughout the country. While heavily concentrated along the coasts, it’s a safe bet that some of these folks are living in our neighborhoods as well. Splitting this thing up would not be easy.

Yet we all have seen the map displaying the voter breakdown by county. The population that votes democratic is heavily massed on the coastal cities and some of the more porous areas of the border with Mexico. What a surprise.

Never was the cultural divide more graphically obvious. We, the cultural conservatives and "joe six-packs" of "flyover country" went overwhelmingly for Bush. We didn’t love him – we were voting against the Democrats. We want our country back and voted accordingly. The cultural Marxists however, are very close to winning. Most of the people who live on entitlements, work for the government, the media or otherwise suck at the public trough, voted to continue re-distributing our wealth at the expense of our republic.

Academe, that haven for the very communistic theories rejected by the rest of the civilized world, went heavily for cultural Marxists; many if not most of the bigger colleges must be considered training grounds for the enemy. When one thinks of Marxism in the context of our colleges, it is hard to determine if we should be thinking of Karl or Groucho! We have a lot of house cleaning to do right in our own backyards, and since we can’t just shoot all these lame brains we’ll be hard-pressed to come up with something useful for them to do. That part of it might just be fun.

The saddest commentary of all is this: we may assume that the Christian Church, in particular, the mainstream denominations, has been heavily infiltrated by these weasels, even in the traditional Bible Belt. Satan knows his enemy, even if we do not.

So we have a political party that supports homosexual activists, labor unions, including the extremely dangerous teacher's unions, the race baiters, feminists, Hollywood elite, and those old leftists who still cling feebly but enthusiastically to the Stalinist creed. They were fronted in this contest by "Moses" Lieberman, he of the elastic morals, and Al Gore, he of the no morals whatsoever. Admittedly, these wretches are worthy successors to Bill Clinton, and for those who believe as they believe, Lieberman and Gore are satisfactory if not inspiring. No soul-searching on the left, no honor or desire to do the best thing for the country. Just naked venality and an overwhelming lust for power. Even the more principled leftists abandoned them in disgust and went for Nader.

Essentially, this element of our body politic is at war with the principals upon which this country was founded and the people who believe in those principals. They want our money and they want our souls. They want absolute power, and they want it in the name of some bastardized imitation of democracy where everyone can have all the sex they want and call it freedom. It reeks of the barnyard – Orwell was strangely prescient in his use of metaphor.

It is time to consider that and forget this loyal opposition nonsense. Get it through your heads that these people are most definitely not loyal. There is no "agreeing to disagree" with this bunch, no compromise. Study the workings of the communist party from the thirties and forties and you will soon learn where the Democrats get this incredible tenacity – they will never stop: every compromise is to them, a short step forward toward their devilish goal of absolute power.

They will use whatever tactics it takes, and that includes importing millions of foreigners and declaring them citizens to skew the election results. They proved that by doing it: both in the recent election and in ’96. At the rate they are flooding this country with immigrants, immigrants beholden to them, we can soon forget about western European culture. This benefits no one, not even the immigrants, and will lead to anarchy.

So I say to Mr. Puckett, and to the others out there who wish to work within the system, that the time for compromise was over years ago. Ask your kids what they are learning in school. I’m not just speaking to Southerners here. How about you Northern Californians who are virtually dominated by the leftists in your state? How about you westerners, who learned in this recent farce of an election that your voice is literally a voice crying in the wilderness. Clinton stole another eighty million acres of your land while the country was focused on the election! There are additionally, large blocks of freedom loving individuals in the northeast. What about them? Do you reckon they really like seeing homosexuals flood into Vermont to participate in the now "legal" mockery of God’s own institution, marriage? How must it feel to live under the yoke of the socialist upstarts in Massachusetts or New York?

Can we roll over any longer? Immigration wasn’t discussed in this election yet it is the second most crucial issue facing this country, with the exception of the slaughter of unborn children. The latter issue apparently doesn’t exist on our political landscape either. Even those of you who disagree with me on that must admit that there has been no political or electoral dialogue on the issue: it was decided by the Supreme Court, the chief agency of our decline. Working well outside it’s constitutional authority I might add. Shouldn’t issues like these be decided by the states?

In the midst of this upheaval, the government is quietly usurping our God-given right to own weapons of self-defense. We don’t even need a constitution to see the logic in that one – if the government has the guns and we don’t, the government owns us, and if you think that is too simplistic, then consider why the framers wrote so copiously about that very issue. Indeed, our constitution and Bill of Rights are designed for one purpose only: to limit government. How sickening it is to hear these tawdry politicians even mention the constitution they are sworn to uphold. Can we continue under the rule of such men? Dare we?

Mr. Puckett continues his argument by saying " all of the United States is ours." Well, it sure doesn’t seem like it to me. If a cop in the Northern states pulls me over and finds my sidearm, I’m going to jail. If the government has it’s way, that despotism will soon find it’s way into the South as well. So no, let’s not pretend all of these United States are ours. In New York, arguably one of the most dangerous towns in the US, we are required to walk around unarmed. Presumably, this is acceptable to New Yorkers or they would not tolerate it. Yet homosexuals dressed as nuns caper in the streets and no perversity is too vile to tolerate except the outmoded desire for political freedom. Do I wish to be ruled over by such people? Is it worth it? Let them have their way, but only with each other. And make them apply for visas to come here!

People on the left of the argument wish to tell us what to do and are doing so. We are rolling over supinely and may well be fully cooked before we realize we’re even in the oven. That these people are often well-meaning is of scant consequence to me. A dummy can hurt me just as easily as a wise, evil antagonist. That they will is obvious from the state of our education system, and from the systemic acceptance of the demise of our constitutional republic. For those slow learners out there, take a look at our penal system, and the police. Do constitutional republics lock up or shoot people for smoking a weed? To you Christian brothers let me add that the very police state being brought to bear in the drug war you have been supporting, will ultimately be used against you as well. Time to put on the thinking caps folks.

Perhaps this recent attempt at an electoral coup will alert people to the danger we face. And perhaps not... Stealing the votes of military men must certainly set a new standard for sheer venality yet where are the public cries of outrage. They may well get away with it.

I’ve actually heard people on the other side blaming the Republicans for trying to steal the election. As if the vacuous Republicans would have the gusto to fight dirty. What we learn from this, however, is that our country is irrevocably divided. They are not going to convince us, and we are not going to convince them. Despite the fact that many leftists are decent people trying to do the right thing, it’s time to realize that their core beliefs are evil and to separate from them lest we be further corrupted by them.

Despite the traitor Clinton’s efforts to subvert the military, that remains the single largest group in America that do not embrace his beastly ideas. Military personnel actually believe in the constitution, at a rate far exceeding that of say, public school teachers, politicians or TV news commentators. Will that military, most of whom are our neighbors, shoot us for exercising our constitutional right to separate? Probably not – but give the democrats another eight years and the military will be purged to the point where it will become the storm troopers of America and then we better watch out. They are rapidly weeding out the real soldiers and turning our military into an extension of the PC police.

Another eight years of these wretches and another generation will have been turned against us by the media and the public schools. We cannot afford to wait. We must raise up leaders among us who will take a stand and who will get us out of this tainted union with evil. We are out of time, we must do it now, and we must make it stick.

Here in America, the people who still believe in freedom have reached the point of no return. It can only go downhill for us from here. We must act, or we will have to learn to kiss the boot of an oppressor who is not only evil, but boring. That’s right, I said boring. Hitler was charismatic in his evil – Stalin was downright demonic. Take a long hard look at Al Gore – his principals, if such a one can be said to have any, are very much in line with theirs. Yet this is a mediocre villain of a man who even while grasping rapaciously for power, provokes a yawn – a tedious despotism may well be the worst of all!

A final consideration for every Christian who contemplates secession must be this: we are enjoined by the very Word of God to respect the power of the state. I have considered this one at great length – to be found disobedient by the One who died that we might have life would be dreadful. So we must consider the Office of the State, that second kingdom of God, the one which wields the sword. Our loyalty to the state is commanded of us in Holy Scripture.

In America – we the people are the state, and we live in a constitutional republic which has been usurped. Ours is a voluntary union of states – an old and familiar argument, in no way obviated by the ruthless application of coercive force applied by the central government against us in 1861. We are indeed remiss, but only in that, we have failed in our first duty which is to govern ourselves responsibly.

As a Lutheran, I believe more than most in the separation of the church and state, and fear the possibility of a theocracy. I can’t imagine why I’m not allowed to buy beer on Sunday yet conversely, neither can I imagine why on earth we tolerate leaders who would forbid us the guidance of the Ten Commandments in the courtroom! It has been noted that ours has become a country where the unborn are murdered in the womb yet the dead can vote and run for office. A country that sins corporately will be judged corporately and I have no wish to be judged for the sins of those who are currently running this country.

Since America was defined as a loose confederation of states, I’m convinced that we in no way violate the law of God as defined by Paul in Romans and by Peter in his epistles, when we espouse secession. Secession was and is, a natural and perfectly normal response of states which have become dissatisfied with the union into which they voluntarily entered. Remember that the legality of this was put to the test when the Yankees failed to try Jefferson Davis for treason because they could not find a law under which to prosecute him. Exercising the rights inherent in our form of government is in no way sedition!

It is our legal right (despite the war criminal Lincoln’s admonitions to the contrary) to separate and separate we must.

The real question is this: why have let it go this far, that secession has become our last hope for an existence as free men?

by Michael Peirce
November 20, 2000

Originally posted on lewrockwell.com, included in the collection of Secessionist Papers with the express consent and support of the author

The Calhoun Institute