The Secession Journal : The Other Side of the Secession Issue & Debate

The Secession Journal

The Other Side of the Secession Issue & Debate

It always surprises me how often authors, books and websites promoting one view or another on any issue only present their side of the story acting is if there is no other way to look at the topic in question. Or as if to somehow fool the reader into the belief that no rational, thoughtful person could realistically disagree with the author's point of view.

Although I believe the vast majority of educated Americans, North and South believed in the principle of secession up until sometime during the War Between the States when it became obvious that brut military force would win out over constitutional right, this is not the case today. In the Washington Empire today, to mention or suggest that the right of secession as the ultimate defense against political tyranny should again be considered as a democratic, peaceful manner of holding the federal government in check certainly is not mainstream thinking. Neither is it a concept favored by the political, financial or media establishment in this country because the mere mention of this constitutional right, throws those who rule over us into a panic because it may well be the only effective defense left. I believe it is the only remaining legitimate defense Americans have today against an all powerful federal government, an out of control judiciary and a political elite totally bought and paid for lock, stock and barrel by multi-national corporate special interests.

It challenges the entrenched status quo of political organizations, lobbying groups and public policy foundations as well as conservative and libertarian leaders who all make their living and fund raising programs claiming to have the key to restoring limited government here in the United States. Those in Washington and I might add at the state level are just as willing for the advocates of liberty to continue on with the same old failed political, educational and lobbying activities to limit government as are the advocates of the failed strategies to limit government. Today in the United States, both sides of the issue are caught in a sick codependent relationship where both benefit from the funding, debate and appearance of activities and solutions that in fact have failed in the past, today and will in the future to solve the problem.

You see, government programs always develop their own supporting constituencies favor this or that program or agencies not for the function it is supposed to perform but out of their own self interests. The same case can be made for the conventional so called "loyal opposition" to big government.

Therefore since both the advocates and most current defenders of the status quo in the ongoing debate and efforts to limit government derive certain monetary, revenue and fund raising benefits from the current situation, advocates of secession like myself who prefer the right and defense not the action will have to build over time a constitutency who share our belief that this is the only way to again limit government at all levels. After all, the right to leave as in the case of Quebec and Scotland helped curtail the powers of the central governments to make the right and threat of the action all that was necessary to solve the problem. Most of the opposition will strongly oppose this philosophy and movement because it limits their power, funding and authority.

Hence the reaction of the broad opposition both in government and outside claiming to be on the other side, "our side" in the conservative, libertarian and think tank movement of limited government advocates means we must educate ourselves about what they say about us. This is a legitimate debate and below we present their side of the story so you can learn to counter their arguments and strident attacks. After all, they want to maintain the status quo and their livelihood and money train while all we want is personal freedom and liberty. Know the enemies of freedom, state sovereignty and liberty. - Ron

You Lost, Get Over It! - What they are really saying is "might makes right." A good analogy which will make the opposition howl is comparing Lincoln's War to Hitler's holocaust. So, the Nazi persecution of the Jews was right because he had the power to decide the issue by force. This is always my favorite excuse often provided by the most non-thinking, ignorant of the opposition to the secession debate and discussion. It is as if, the right of secession as a defense of limited government and our original constitutional republic is somehow based on the military outcome of Lincoln's War fought over 140 years ago.

That is past history and although I believe the South was constitutionally and historically right in its use of peaceful, democratic secession and that Lincoln was totally wrong, its not that simple. Frankly, the South's moral vision and position is clouded looking back from a 21st Century perspective because of our agricultural economy based predominately on slavery. Who can or should defend slavery as an institution either on moral or economic grounds? Of course, no one can or should. Still the fact that slavery was practiced in the US at the time of our original secession and independence from the British Empire does no more take away from the moral and ethical right of secession, then as it did during the War For Southern Independence or today.

So, my response to this kind if really dumb comment, when I choose to respond is, "I'll get over the war when American returns to the limited, decentralized republic as established by our founding fathers and destroyed by Lincoln and replace with an empire.

Secession Was Never Legal or Constitutional - Well there are definitely two sides to this issue or else there would not have been a War Between the States. Although secession was taught at West Point as a constitutional political right in William Rawle's book titled: "A View of the Constitution" certainly everyone didn't buy the argument. While a majority did before the war, between Lincoln's propaganda and the realization of economic self interest by Northern business interests that they could not successfully compete with a low tax, low tariff independent Confederate States of America almost overnight turned majority northern newspaper and political support for the right of secession against the already peacefully seceded Confederate states into calls for war.

Refighting the Civil War: The Case Against Secession - by John Fielding

Pondering Secession - by Michael Wallace A quite juvenile repudiation of the historic right of secession and my right to promote the view claiming that it never was either legal or that it enjoyed widespread support in the US. Still a very worthwhile read because it is a typical attack on the philosophy by someone who has obviously spent their entire life living on the government dole and who is now attempting in retirement to build up another constituency to promote more of the same.

Secession Isn't Practical Today -

Secession is All About Slavery & the "Civil War"