According to the New York Daily News, the government-initiated website "We The People" has been bombarded by petitions since the election.
More than 100,000 disgruntled citizens (representing more than 20 states) have petitioned President Obama to grant their states permission to secede from the Union.
The petitioners are trying to cast themselves in the mold of the Founding Fathers, but rebellion should be built of sterner stuff. Where the original patriots pledged "our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor," our contemporary rebels are pledging "the 30 seconds I have to take away from Angry Birds to write this petition and impress that hot Tea Party chick."
Some petitioners embrace imagery of the Civil War, while others try to distance themselves — which is hard, when someone is doubtless slaving away on the novel "50 Shades of Blue and Gray" and there's a mint julep tanker sitting in the harbor.
The petitioners should be proud of their fiercely independent streak, but they should avoid becoming cocky. I can just see the petitioners high-fiving themselves after venting their spleens on President Obama. ("I guess we told HIM! C'mon,..let's go command the tide not to come in.")
Believe me, I understand the frustration with centralized red tape and values-pushing from Washington. I admire the state leader who commented, "We'll be better off if we only have to answer to Governor What's-His-Name, and that state legislator who always gives the good barbecue dinners. Smaller units of government are more efficient and responsive, and we'll live in peace...unless those pesky towns and counties start getting UPPITY..."
If states are really given permission to secede, I fear that some of them will try to rebrand themselves on the dating scene. I could just imagine a state hitting the singles bars. ("What? No, you didn't see me with Wisconsin. Must've been somebody else. I'm a former Soviet republic.")
I cringe at the thought of a dissolved Union messing with America's songs. Are you ready for "This land is your land, this land is my land...but check your passport just in case" or "Oh, beautiful for spacious skies — but violate South Carolina's airspace and get a Stinger missile on your tail"?
Honestly, I don't think taking your ball and going home is the answer. The sum is greater than the whole of its parts; citizens/states should hang in there and redouble their efforts to fine-tune the greatest nation on earth.
As it is, the whole shortsighted situation reminds me of nothing so much as the protestations of newly homeless Navin R. Johnson in Steve Martin's 1979 movie "The Jerk." ("And that's the only thing I need is this — my freedom and my World's Largest Ball of Dental Floss tourist site. I don't need this or this. Just my Interstate highway...and information from the National Weather Service. The highway and the Weather Service and that's all I need. And some currency. The highway, the Weather Service and the currency and that's all I need. And my national park. The highway, the Weather Service, the currency and the national park and that's all I need. I don't need one other thing, not one. Hey, is that an invading army....????")
To paraphrase poet Emily Dickinson, "Secession is counted sweetest, by those who ne'er secede."
Copyright 2012 Danny Tyree. Danny welcomes reader e-mail responses at tyreetyrades@aol.com and visits to his Facebook fan page "Tyree's Tyrades."
milolo posted at 8:52 pm on Fri, Nov 30, 2012.
your sister!
milolo posted at 8:51 pm on Fri, Nov 30, 2012.
your sister!
bubba posted at 8:51 am on Wed, Nov 21, 2012.
causa latet, vis est notissima
mnjcpa posted at 11:21 am on Tue, Nov 20, 2012.
bubba - I've been in the tax business for 30 years. If you're at all interested in understanding this issue, jump over to the Beydler article and look at JNelson's response this morning. He explains it perfectly. Or continue believing the Left's message.
Or wait and watch your fictionalized recovery.
bubba posted at 10:37 am on Tue, Nov 20, 2012.
mnjcpa ...As you said "Time will tell." This won't be a short term or painless recovery. Spending will be reigned in and the wealthy will pay their fair share. Trickle Down has proven to be a huge failure. The wealthy's off shore bank accounts have taken the assests they aquired out of the economy, to thwart any tricke down effect. A new report reveals how wealthy individuals and their families have between $21 and $32 trillion of hidden financial assets around the world in what are known as offshore accounts or tax havens. The actual sums could be higher because the study only deals with financial wealth deposited in bank and investment accounts, and not other assets such as property and yachts. The inquiry was commissioned by the Tax Justice Network and is being touted as the most comprehensive report ever on the "offshore economy." It also finds that private banks are deeply involved in running offshore havens, with UBS, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs handling the most assets. The time has come for the wealthy to be included in this recovery.
mnjcpa posted at 8:11 am on Tue, Nov 20, 2012.
No it didn't. It was in response to your dream state that America is in some kind of recovery. I beg to differ. The Wall Street Journal begs to differ.
Time will tell bubba - wait until January when people start seeing the costs of Obamacare and tax rate changes play out in their paychecks.
Let me know then how your fictionalized recovery is working.
bubba posted at 9:29 pm on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
mnjcpa....."bubba...the topic is seceding"........That's correct. It was your post at 8:37 a.m. that strayed off topic. Try to focus.
bubba posted at 3:31 pm on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
mnjcpa.....One last comment to your response:..."Forewarnings, deregulation, and Bush are both inconsequential to the discussion and judging by your previous comments to others, you're not interested in understanding this topic."...........I understand the topic quite well. You've avoided addressing the cause of this financial meltdown. And if you can't understand the cause, you can't address the effect, much less prescribe the cure. Live in your neo-con world of fear, doom and gloom. Leave the cure to those that have an understanding, and positive resolve.
mnjcpa posted at 3:27 pm on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
bubba...the topic is seceding - not forewarnings, deregulation, and Bush. The cause of the financial meltdown is massive spending from BOTH Democrats and Republicans. I don't live in a neo-con world (whatever that is). I'm registered independent and worked in the capital markets and tax for 30 years. It's based in the reality of the monetary system which will collapse - likely in Obama's second term.
What I don't believe in is the utopia you've been sold.
bubba posted at 3:19 pm on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
mnjcpa.....Well you had your chance.
mnjcpa posted at 2:48 pm on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
Your comments to others about leaving on ships, Bush, and forewarnings tells me all I need to know to say thanks, but no thanks.
bubba posted at 2:07 pm on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
mnjcpa......Well then narrow it down to something you can handle, don't just reduce your reply to ad hominem comments about "people like me".
mnjcpa posted at 1:36 pm on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
bubba....you're request is too broad to comment in a comment column. Forewarnings, deregulation, and Bush are both inconsequential to the discussion and judging by your previous comments to others, you're not interested in understanding this topic.
You won - congratulations. Obama used blaming Bush quite effectively. Otherwise how else would someone snowball people in to voting them with real unemployment numbers more like 15%, 23 million people out of work, 16 million more on food stamps.
People like yourself don't understand the value of freedom. And the Republicans did a lousy job of communicating it. Even the Russian newspaper Pravda is laughing at us. Rather than pick apart my comments, let time do it's job.
Layoffs, pullback on investments, lowered tax revenues - even with tax increases because the economic climate is dismal. The WSJ is reporting this daily.
We'll see if I'm right.
bubba posted at 1:12 pm on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
mnjcpa......I don't believe mentioning the Bush administration's handling of the economy is at all flippant. It serves as a reasonable baseline situation to showcase your ability to predict the economy's direction. Please inform us of your forewarnings to the financial collapse that occured in 2008. I know Bush wasn't in your discussion, but we need to adress the cause of the collapse to understand the effects of it, and the remedy to it. Republicans are quick to dismiss the real cause, and blame this debacle on Obama. The deregulation of the financial industry began with Reagan. Please comment on your perspective of the deregulation on the financial industry that makes privite profit risks the taxpayer's liabilities.
mnjcpa posted at 12:26 pm on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
bubba - Bush wasn't in my discussion nor is it necessary to the conversation. The Republicans have been just as guilty of bad policy as the Democrats.
If it makes you feel better to be flippant, have at it. At this stage there's likely to only be an `event` that will change the economic direction we're headed anyway because there's too many people like you that actually believe what you just affirmed in the election.
Time will tell if I'm right.
bubba posted at 11:50 am on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
mnjcpa...Being as you work in the capital markets and are so well informed to be able to predict the future, were you as critical of the Bush/Cheney administration that caused the collapse of this economy?
bubba posted at 11:26 am on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
mnjcpa....The sky is falling, end days are near, prepare for armagedon!
mnjcpa posted at 11:14 am on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
bubba - the stock market is falsely propped up by a monetary system that's close to collapse. You can live in your liberal bubble if you want. I work in the capital markets and I can assure you you're view is not held by those who are informed.
bubba posted at 10:06 am on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
mnjcpa ....Cheer up. There is nothing to fear but fear itself. The stock market has doubled since Obama first took office. We are leaving the debacle Bush has tangled us up in Iraq. Like an oceanliner changing course is slow but steady. We are not "Staying the Course" that got us into this mess. We have become a society used to microwave ovens and super glue, expecting instant results, no matter of the depth of our problems. If the companies continue to pull back, there will be others that will fill their spots to sell the products and employ American citizens. Fair trade tariffs would go far to bring jobs back, Fear, doom and gloom is not going to help. This nation has endured worse and will overcome.
Bluepoet posted at 9:53 am on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
Symbolic protests are great, and they make those who are involved feel, well, involved. It's kinda like going to Church...everyone shows up, and talks the talk, so they can go back to reality, for the rest of the week. I can dig it...
Thing is, seceding is a lot like going to Church, only every day...all of a sudden talking the talk becomes walking the walk. That's where the feel good symbolics turn to, well the lowest common denominator, eh?
Here's my bet on the next bubble bursting phenomena--the military industrial complex. The worst part of it will be that the arms selling will remain, and even increase, but the actual size of the government military will shrink, and be even more priviatized, resulting in even more little wars being subsidized and hired out to the lowest bidder.
Strangely, this won't happen, until the next election cycle, when the Republicans will win both houses of Congress. It will be blamed on the Democrats, though.
Invest in drone technologies...it's the coming thing, and not just for air strikes...they will make them for domestic surveillance of the citizenry, too...big marketing opps (and ops, too) for this, coming our way, thanks to those guys who "pay the bills", but don't pay the blood, sweat, and tears...
Can't wait to see the "symbolic protests" then...
mnjcpa posted at 8:37 am on Mon, Nov 19, 2012.
bubba - You really believe we're in a recovery - how sad. IJust who is going to pay the bills if the people that oppose Obama leave?
My bet on the economy is just the opposite. There's nothing Obama has proposed that will do anything different than the last four years. Companies will continue to pull back.- retracting investment, massive layoffs, even more unemployment. The next four years will be just as bad as the last four with a good chance of collapse of the monetary system.
The next big real estate bubble will be the college loan bubble - where millions of kids (many devoted to Obama) come out of school with massive loans, many with worthless degrees, with college hierarchies as the benefactors, just like flipping houses did for the banks. Wonder if the liberal education will be blamed like the banks.
Time will tell, but let's see who's right.
Masterrogue666 posted at 8:10 pm on Sun, Nov 18, 2012.
Mike McClellan: Wow, now you are making personal attacks? And you call yourself a "columnist"? Tsk, tsk...
Masterrogue666 posted at 8:06 pm on Sun, Nov 18, 2012.
downtown: As I recall, the Governer was AGAINST it.
bubba posted at 4:02 pm on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
mwmike....You're right!!!!! 100,000 nut jobs, in a country of 314,159,265 people (on 8-14-12) That equates to under .032% I think this extremely narrow band of nut cases have had their 15 minutes.
bubba posted at 2:49 pm on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
d4az....Anti-Arizonan?....Please point out in my posts where I've made any disparaging remarks of Arizona. I'm optimistic of the direction of my Country AND my State. I've lived in Arizona for more than 44 years. Arizona will eventually return to the sane politics we had here in the '60's. Polititians used to work across the aisle in those days and great things were accomplished for Arizona. The times they are a changin'. And for the better !!
bubba posted at 2:22 pm on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
d4az ....Got no problem with my country, or our President, no reason I should leave. I'm merely looking out for your happiness. If you don't like our President (elected by the majority) or the direction of this nation (slowly, but surely recovering from the eight years of devistation inflicted by Bush/Cheney), you are more than welcome to denounce your citizenship (like the others that want to secede) and leave. We won't miss you, and I'm sure you will find happiness in Somalia. As I said your cabin is ready on the SS Somalia, you should start packing now. Your paradise awaits!!!
bubba posted at 12:29 pm on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
This is like when a bratty child threatens to run away if he doesn't get his way. The best response would be to help him pack his bags.
Don't like what the American majority has decided? Give up your citizenship and leave. We won't miss you. Somalia awaits.
d4az posted at 12:24 pm on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
Hey blubba - Why would I leave, I like Arizona and am happy staying here; anti-Arizonans like you are the ones who should be packing.
Arizona Willie posted at 12:20 pm on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
Leon you said " Even when Bush won the "hanging chad" Election....you never saw hundreds of thousands of Democrats who were so disgusted with their newly-elected President that they wanted to secede from the Union.."
When Bush was pResident there was no web page where citizens could post like that.
Bush didn't want to hear it.
He didn't even want to see anyone who disagreed with him.
Protesters were kept behind chain link fences out of sight of any motorcade with Bush and officials so they didn't have to see or hear them.
The Bush administration trampled all over the civil rights of protesters.
They wouldn't have dreamed of giving citizens a voice like that web page.
Mike McClellan posted at 11:43 am on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
Channel 5 noted a few days ago that half of the Arizona petition signers are either from out of state or leave their locations unknown.
Which means?
They want us out of the country, they want to get rid of Arizona from the U.S.
And who can blame them?
After all, we're the state that brought the U.S. Arpaio, Brewer, Pearce . . . and LEON
Deddzone posted at 9:30 am on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
100,000? I'm amazed.
That's all that's left of the silly Tea Party? It's like Karl Rove drove a stake right through the heart of the Tea Party and killed it.
bubba posted at 8:40 am on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
Leon & d4az....Got your bags packed yet ? Your cabins on the SS Somalia are ready for you. Bon voyage !!
mwmike posted at 8:39 am on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
100,000 nut jobs in a country of over 300 million people. We must be doing something right.
d4az posted at 8:30 am on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
@Leon - Putin may be wondering if this is what Obama meant about having more "flexibility" after the election.
Hey downtownrodent - If you don't like Arizona, get out. The more anti-Arizonans like you who leave, the better for those of us who like it here.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 7:52 am on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
Love it....love it...love it.
Obama was sure "ticked off" about these petitioners, now from all 50 States and the list just keeps on getting longer and longer. Putin must be laughing his patootie off right now.
Even when Bush won the "hanging chad" Election....you never saw hundreds of thousands of Democrats who were so disgusted with their newly-elected President that they wanted to secede from the Union........what a hoot and a slap-in-the-face for our very own....."MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE"..........LOL.
sockratties posted at 7:31 am on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
Well said, Danny. Unfortunately your irony will be intentionally missed by the audience you wish you could reach.
downtownresident posted at 7:30 am on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
The sad thing is that the mental midgets who we elected to run this state are all for this madness.
They obviously have no idea of the real ramifications of this folly.
The collective IQ of our state officials is somewhere between 50 and 60.
They belong in an institution, with padded cells.
bubba posted at 7:25 am on Sat, Nov 17, 2012.
Being that the petitioners only represent an extremely small percentage of their respective state's population, it wouldn't be fair for the rest of the state's citizens. Therefore the logical solution is to charter ships for these malcontents and ship them to Somalia. They'll love it there. No government, no taxes, no schools, no infrastructure. A Tea Party paradise !!