Monthly Archives: November 2012

Very few people are taking the secession petitions on the White House website seriously. Despite some of the petitions getting over 25,000 signatures, the White House has not offered any official response (yet). But Congressman Ron Paul, who is serving out the rest of his final term in office, takes the petitions seriously and says on his website that they raise worthwhile questions.

RELATED: Megyn Kelly Panel Battles Over Whether The States Could Legally Secede From U.S.

Pauls argument pushes back against the argument that secession is a fundamentally unpatriotic principle, as many people have made clear in the past few days. Paul says that he wouldnt hold his breath on any state actually seceding, but argues that it is not treasonous for a state to consider such an option.

Secession is a deeply American principle. This country was born through secession. Some felt it was treasonous to secede from England, but those traitors became our countrys greatest patriots.

There is nothing treasonous or unpatriotic about wanting a federal government that is more responsive to the people it represents. That is what our Revolutionary War was all about and today our own federal government is vastly overstepping its constitutional bounds with no signs of reform. In fact, the recent election only further entrenched the status quo. If the possibility of secession is completely off the table there is nothing to stop the federal government from continuing to encroach on our liberties and no recourse for those who are sick and tired of it.

To make his point about states rights even clearer, Paul cites ballot initiatives legalizing marijuana in two states while pointing out that the federal government has not exactly been kind about respecting the rights of states to enforce its own drug laws. Paul uses language directly from the Declaration of Independence to make the point that secession is a shining example of freedom of the people.

After all, as he argues, if people cannot secede from an oppressive government, they cannot truly be considered free.

h/t The HillR

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Ron Paul: Secession Petitions ‘Raise A Lot Of Worthwhile Questions’

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., defended the secession petitions circulating on the White House website, saying the petitioners "raise a lot of worthwhile questions about the nature of our union."

In a post under the "Texas Straight Talk" section of Paul's House website, the congressman disputed the charge that talk of secession is "mere sour grapes over the election," exalting secession as a "deeply American principle."

"This country was born through secession," Paul writes. "Some felt it was treasonous to secede from England, but those "traitors" became our country's greatest patriots. There is nothing treasonous or unpatriotic about wanting a federal government that is more responsive to the people it represents."

Paul's argument, at times an almost-scholarly rumination on historical documents and founding fathers, cites the Declaration of Independence's dissolution of political union as a historical precedent, and quotes Thomas Jefferson's 1825 letter to Thomas Giles in which the founding father argued that states "should separate from our companions only when the sole alternatives left, are the dissolution of our Union with them, or submission to a government without limitation of powers."

And everywhere Paul looks, he sees government unlimited.

"Consider the ballot measures that passed in Colorado and Washington state regarding marijuana laws," writes Paul. "The people in those states have clearly indicated that they are ready to try something different where drug policy is concerned, yet they will still face a tremendous threat from the federal government. In California, the Feds have been arresting peaceful medical marijuana users and raiding dispensaries that state and local governments have sanctioned. This shouldn't happen in a free country."

He also singles out Obamacare as an example of federal overreach: "It remains to be seen what will happen in states that are refusing to comply with the deeply unpopular mandates of Obamacare by not setting up healthcare exchanges. It appears the Federal government will not respect those decisions either."

Paul argues that secession, far from being treasonous, must be seen as a final safeguard against an unduly transgressive central government: "In a free country, governments derive their power from the consent of the governed. When the people have very clearly withdrawn their consent for a law, the discussion should be over. If the Feds refuse to accept that and continue to run roughshod over the people, at what point do we acknowledge that that is not freedom anymore? At what point should the people dissolve the political bands which have connected them with an increasingly tyrannical and oppressive federal government?"

He concludes, "If a people cannot secede from an oppressive government, they cannot truly be considered free."

Paul's defense of secession can be seen as another example of his states' rights absolutism - more an exercise in ideological consistency than a legitimate incitement to dissolve the union. But critics will doubtlessly accuse Paul of irresponsibly throwing kerosene on the already-inflamed secession debate that has sprung up in the wake of President Obama's reelection.

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Ron Paul: Secession "deeply American"

Ron Paul has returned to the hot-button issue of secession, arguing that leaving the Union is a legitimate way for states to "stop the federal government from continuing to encroach on our liberties."

Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas known for his libertarian views, said on his House website:

"Secession is a deeply American principle. This country was born through secession. Some felt it was treasonous to secede from England, but those 'traitors' became our country's greatest patriots. There is nothing treasonous or unpatriotic about wanting a federal government that is more responsive to the people it represents."

[OPINION: Ron Paul Is 'Deeply' Wrong About Secession]

The Civil War was of course fought in part over secession when the South tried to form the Confederate States of America and retain slavery. That war cost huge numbers of lives and money but in the end the Union was preserved.

But Paul said, "[I]f the people or states are not free to leave the United States as a last resort, can they really think of themselves as free? If a people cannot secede from an oppressive government, they cannot truly be considered free ... If the possibility of secession is completely off the table there is nothing to stop the federal government from continuing to encroach on our liberties and no recourse for those who are sick and tired of it."

A Paul spokeswoman told myU.S. Newscolleague Elizabeth Flock last week that Paul "feels the same way" about secession as he did in April 2009 when he said on YouTube that secession is a legitimate issue to debate.

[ENJOY: The U.S. News Collection of Republican Party Cartoons]

Since Obama was re-elected November 6, petitions have been circulated in a number of states including Texas supportingsecession. Now Paul has used that development as a news peg to expand on his views about secession.

Paul ran for the GOP presidential nomination this year. He fell short but inspired some of the most enthusiastic followers of any campaign.

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Ron Paul Stands By Secessionists