Currently, 30 States have put forth petitions to secede from the United States.

[Wolfy]

http://www.examiner.com/article/citizens-15-states-file-petitions-to-secede-from-united-states

After Tuesday's election, so far 30 states have put up petitions on the White House Website to Secede from the United States of America.

I don't..I just...Buh? @_@

I may be biased, but this is completely moronic. @_@

[Lilias]

Fee fi faw fum, I smell sore losers. ::)

[Pumpkin Seeds]

Can't really count Louisiana.  Every year the put that on the ballot to be voted on and every year nobody votes on the issue.

[LunarSage]

Isn't putting such a petition together technically treason?

A friend of mine who studied political science and history in college told me that under US law, there is no right of secession.

[Wolfy]

Isn't putting such a petition together technically treason?

A friend of mine who studied political science and history in college told me that under US law, there is no right of secession.

Ask him. :3

and really, I think a petition would be filed under Free Speech. Actually TRYING to secede would be treason.

[Lux12]

*sighs*Why do they do this when they know they'll fail?That said I won't shed any tears if Texas leaves the union.

[Valerian]

Can't really count Louisiana.  Every year the put that on the ballot to be voted on and every year nobody votes on the issue.

Same thing with Texas, really.  I don't know if they ever vote on it, but they like to make noises about secession.  Note that the article linked is from the Examiner, and that isn't actually a news source, so take their spin with a large hunk of salt.

The petitions don't mean a great deal, anyway.  They're trying to meet the 25,000 signatures in 30 days threshold that will get the petitions reviewed and an official reply drafted by the White House.  There's also at least one petition going calling for anyone who signed any of the secession petitions to be deported.

My guess would be people are just blowing off steam for the most part.  Also, some people are still woefully misinformed about the Affordable Health Care Act and that's why they're flipping out.  They should hopefully calm down when they see how it actually works.

[Moraline]

This whole thing sounds much worse then it is.

Anybody can put up a petition. Even if they got all of the required signatures they'd still need their own local governments approvals for it to mean anything and they don't' have that.

This is just a joke or a laughable attempt by a group of extremists.

If you want to see a serious attempt at secession then you should study the Canadian province of Quebec and the political parties of the Parti Québécois and Bloc Québécois of the Quebec sovereignty movements. These are actual political parties that at one time not long ago were actually the official opposition party in the Canadian parliament. They are still major players in politics in Canada.

[LunarSage]

Ah.  I had been under the impression that state officials had organized the petitions.

[Moraline]

Ah.  I had been under the impression that state officials had organized the petitions.

Nope, just click on "start a petition" and your underway.

I'm not even a US citizen and I could do it.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/

[Oniya]

I'd heard of the 15, didn't realize it was up to 30.  The Texas petition apparently has almost enough signatures to reach the White House's self-imposed threshold of 'we should look at this'.  Of the states that I was aware of, Texas is probably the only one capable of making a go of it - they have a separate power grid, for one thing, and a 'national' resource.  The rest of the southern states - um - Alabama and Mississippi are something like the poorest states in the nation?  Most of the government poverty benefits go to people in those states.  Take federal support out of those states, and you're going Third World, except for the major cities (many of which voted blue this year).

(What's up with Montana?  Landlocked is not a good start for a new country.  Were they thinking of joining Canada?  We're not going to trade for Quebec...)

And could someone tell me why people from Texas and Oklahoma are signing the one to 'let Pennsylvania secede from the United States'?  Stick to your own states if you want to secede!  >:(

[Valerian]

Ah.  I had been under the impression that state officials had organized the petitions.

That's probably what the Examiner staff wants everyone to think.  They like their scare tactics, and they pander to the far right.

[LunarSage]

I'm tempted to start a petition to... point and laugh at all the idiots who actually think they have a prayer of seceding from the United States.

This is nothing but hardcore Republicans whining that they lost the election, in my opinion.

[Oniya]

I'm tempted to start a petition to... point and laugh at all the idiots who actually think they have a prayer of seceding from the United States.

There are two competing petitions saying that people who signed petitions to secede should be stripped of citizenship and deported.

[Beguile's Mistress]

It has become an annual event in some states or at lease one they hold every four years.  Some areas of the South have never gotten over the War of Northern Aggression and still attempt to form their own country.  If nothing else it keeps people honest by keeping the issue open and gives us something to talk about when we should be doing something else. ;D

*starts on the stack of phone interviews that need done*

[Ravin]

The only state able to break away is Texas, and even then Demographically it is turning into a blue state. So unless they wish to risk an internal civil war upon themselves, they aren't going anywhere.

[LunarSage]

Well I made a petition that essentially (politely) says that everyone is being ridiculous, but I'm afraid I can't link it since it has my real name on it.  It's a shame, it would need 150 signatures to be publicly seen.

[Moraline]

I made up a fake petition as well:

Title:  Peacefully grant the Internet the right to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government.

Copy of petition Link and the sample email they send to you to mail out for support

Dear friends,


I wanted to let you know about a new petition I created on We the People, a new feature on WhiteHouse.gov, and ask for your support. Will you add your name to mine? If this petition gets 25,000 signatures by December 13, 2012, the White House will review it and respond!


We the People allows anyone to create and sign petitions asking the Obama Administration to take action on a range of issues. If a petition gets enough support, the Obama Administration will issue an official response.


You can view and sign the petition here:


http://wh.gov/9SCI


Here's some more information about this petition:


Peacefully grant the Internet the right to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government.

As the founding father Tim Berners-Lee didn't say to Robert Cailliau of CERN on 25 December 1990: "When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for people to dissolve the TCP bonds which have connected them with other data centers, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of the IEEE and of IP protocol stacks entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to form an independent body." "...Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of SOPA model is used as a destructive and restrictive force, it is the Right of People to alter or abolish the governing body that rules them."

I shall follow this with amused interest.

[Shjade]

There are two competing petitions saying that people who signed petitions to secede should be stripped of citizenship and deported.

That was my favorite part.

[Stattick]

It has become an annual event in some states or at lease one they hold every four years.  Some areas of the South have never gotten over the War of Northern Aggression and still attempt to form their own country.  If nothing else it keeps people honest by keeping the issue open and gives us something to talk about when we should be doing something else. ;D

*starts on the stack of phone interviews that need done*

I prefer calling it the Slaver's Rebellion.

[Vekseid]

The slavers didn't actually fight in the war. They even refused to pay taxes or provide supplies - it was their money, after all.

[Pumpkin Seeds]

I do take offense to that considering the North wasn't exactly a bastion of freedom that people make them out to be.

[Callie Del Noire]

I prefer calling it the Slaver's Rebellion.

Actually till Lincoln used the Emancipation Proclaimation it had very little to do with Slacery. States Rights were a primary issue.

[Serephino]

If I remember right the south was mad because the House of Reps was based on population, and northern states had higher populations because of the industrial boom.  And so, stuff was passing the House that benefited the north because they had more Reps, and the south felt underrepresented.  There was also some stink about not allowing slaves in DC, so people couldn't bring theirs with them. 

[Pumpkin Seeds]

There was also something in regard to slave not counting for votes in the House of Reps, but counted for taxation purposes.