What would you do if your state seceded from the United States as a whole?

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   Sunny Riverposted 11 years ago

   What would you do if your state seceded from the United States as a whole?
   
   Recently I saw that about 20 states started petitions to secede from the U.S. and I'm curious what other people think about that.

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   MickSposted 11 years ago

   I would imagine that they will be as successful as the states in the old USSR when they tried to leave the federation.

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      Sunny Riverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Probably very true.

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   nanderson500posted 11 years ago

   There have been many remarks about secession through the years, but most plan never get past the talking stage. I don't think there's any realistic chance of a secession anytime soon.

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      Sunny Riverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I have to agree, but the idea intrigued me.

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   Justsilvieposted 11 years ago

   Beg for foreign aid from the US!  Because as a whole this state is already poor and at bottom of the education barrel, secession would make them a 3rd world country.

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      Sunny Riverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Haha if you don't mind me asking, which state are you talking about?

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      Justsilvieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I live in beautiful but poor Alabama. We are 5 on WSJ list of 10 poorest states, we rank 49 in education, but we are the home to Rocket Science, despite our shortcomings.

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   LandmarkWealthposted 11 years ago

   States secession is not likely to happen anytime soon,  Yet 50 years from now that's probably exactly where this country is headed on it's current course.  Half the country seems to want a European style socialist democracy, and the other half won't stand for it.  In terms of today...Hypothetically speaking...
   
   Many on the left laugh at this and simply say go ahead since alot of conservative states take more money in Federal aid.  Ofcourse if they had control of their own tax structure that might change quickly.  They often point to states like NY where I live and notice the higher earnings and more wealthy people.  Yet, huge portions of NY's revenue comes from conservative places like Wall Street.   The so called poorer conservative states would control the natural resources in terms of energy production in places like Texas, Alaska & North Dakota.  That could pose quite a problem for liberal states should they go their seperate ways.   
   
   The Conservative states would run into problems when you look at a map.  Many of the liberals states are on or near the coast line and would control the ports, which would impact global trade.
   
   There would be many other things that would develop. I would like to think that if and when something like that happened, it could be done peacfully.  The Conservative States and Liberal States as to seperate nations forming a relationship not unlike that of the US and Canada. 
   
   I can't imagine this anytime soon, But if it did, I'd speed up my retirement plans and get the hell out of NY and move south alot sooner.  I could do without paying 11k a year in property taxes.

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      Sunny Riverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for all the insight! It's interesting to think about and I quite enjoyed reading your ideas on this.

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      Justsilvieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The states need each other and will always do better as a union than on their own. They showed a realistic map of the election and it is not so much liberal and conservative states as it is urban areas vs small town America.

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      LandmarkWealthposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I used to believe that.  But the value systems have grown too far apart.  Were still aways away.  But this country will break up one day in my opinion.

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   Lisa HWposted 11 years ago

   The states don't need to secede, and I don't think things are headed that way in 50 years or 100 years.  What the country needs are some strong voices that know how to close the divide between different segments of the population (and apparently different states to a large extent).  As it is now, so-called leaders are all about dividing people.  People from different segments of society are also all about dividing people.  With essentially the whole country (or at least a massive percentage of it, regardless of "segment of the population") being all about dividing, rather than all about respecting and uniting; things have gotten to the point where they look a) out-of-control, and b) almost hopeless, as far as closing any divides go.
   
   As for what I'd do:  The state in which I reside has come so far away from the principles on which this country was founded it's a disgrace.  If I hadn't been robbed of my right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness I would have moved out of this state a long time ago.  As it is, I'm trapped here (and that's not an exaggeration or "just one side of a story that must have another side someone isn't telling").

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   lburmasterposted 11 years ago

   Yep. Texas actually got enough signatures for the petition to go to the White House. I'm a little concerned. What if Obama wants to make an example of Texas to set us up for failure and agrees to the petition. Then Texas proves him that we can make it and he asks us back. Or if we become a country, what would our immagration laws be? Would abortion be illegal again? Probably. But what about universities? Donations would possibly diminish which would harm the education. Also, our government is definately not ready to secede so that would be a disaster. If we were prepared, maybe it would be fine. But this guy just made a petition out of the blue and didn't create a plan.

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      LandmarkWealthposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You'd figure it out really quick with all the Federal income tax you collect, that could get spent locally and more efficiently.  Plus there will an awful lot of Oil down there to sell to the rest of the old US

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      Sunny Riverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I didn't realize the petition for Texas had actually made it through, but you're right that it's a pretty scary thing to think about. I will be keeping a closer eye on this now.

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      LandmarkWealthposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      He'll never approve it.  I doubt they'll give a real response.

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      CJ Sledgehammerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      If Texas left the union, the powers that be would find a way for two more towers to explode and blame it on 19 Texans...then invade Texas and take it over. This is the Hotel California, where a state can check out any time, but can never leave.

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      lburmasterposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with that CJ. One of the past presidents said states should never leave, for any reason.

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      LandmarkWealthposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      There is legal case law that says they can't leave. I am not saying I agree. But legally speaking they don't have a leg to stand on.

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      Justsilvieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Texas has a large ego, but no real plan. Oil is good, water is better, Texas has a shortage of that and in the future that is going to be major problem for them. Also It would have to wean itself from all the money from the feds they SO detest.

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      LandmarkWealthposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It's easy to get off federal dollars when you're no longer subject to Federal spending mandates like medicaid where the Federal Gov't sticks the State with 40% of the bill.

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   ThompsonPenposted 11 years ago

   I would be excited! I don't know if any one here has heard of the Republic of Cascadia, but there are groups which believe that Western Washington and Oregon and northern California SHOULD succeed  from the United States, and they would form the Republic of Cascadia, since it would be West and down the Cascade mountains. It makes sense not just because we are so ridiculously liberal, but because at least in Washington our taxing isn't fair state wide due to the differences in climates. On the east side of the mountains it's desert and on the west side it's lush and green. We produce different things, need different things, and have very different populations per town.
   Which states did you you see petition? Where did you read this? This is intriguing to me

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      Sunny Riverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I saw a yahoo article about it and you can see which ones petitioned on whitehouse.org I believe. There's a section there where you can start or sign petitions.

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      cascolyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      actually, you forgot British Columbia, which would be a vital segment of Cascadia!

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      ThompsonPenposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You're right! BC is a very important part of Cascadia, and pretty awesome as well!

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   CJ Sledgehammerposted 11 years ago

   The New World Order would love this to happen. Internal strife leading to revolutions and internal warfare. Then the Feds come sweeping in and next thing you know, there are no more states at all...only regions of North America.

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    Miss Mimiposted 11 years ago

    I don't feel like any of the states are ready yet, so I hope that the secessions don't go through. Maybe eventually some of the them will be ready to split from the U.S., but not yet. I already spend most of my time outside of the U.S., so I would probably apply for residency in another, more established country if Michigan seceded. I need to be able to cross borders for work, and my husband's family lives in the U.K. and New Zealand, and being part of a new country would make international travel very tricky for me, it takes time for the rest of the world to recognize a new country.

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    cascolyposted 11 years ago

    first, all this nonsense about 25K signatures on petitions has nothing to do with actually seceding.  the question of secession was conclusively decided by the Civil War -- southern states claimed it as a right and they were overwhelmingly told it was not gonna happen.

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