Secession

There are plenty of conservatives so distraught at the thought of living 4 more years under the administration of a socialist that they spoken openly of secession.  I'm not ready to join them--yet--but let's talk a little about it.  This article points out the obvious, that those same liberals who have their panties in a bunch today over talk of secession were strangely quiet, or saying quite the opposite, after President Bush won in 2000 and 2004:

So does one party or state have a monopoly on secessionist stupidity or two-faced patriotism? Clearly not. As the New York Times reported on blue America the week before this year’s election, “It’s a refrain heard every four years: ‘If [insert Republican name] is elected president, I’m moving to Canada.’” But listening to hacks like Jim Moore and other Democratic mouthpieces, you might think that all this promiscuous talk about secession is something brand new, largely Texan and wholly Republican.

Anyone who talks seriously about taking leave of this great country has likely already taken leave of their senses. The people doing the gabbing deserve all the ridicule and contempt they’re receiving. But some of the people dishing it out would sound a lot more sincere if their self-righteousness about secession wasn’t so politically opportunistic.

I'm curious. Why are liberals so offended about the idea of secession?  They hold the red states, as well as the people who live in them, in utter contempt.  After all, aren't red-staters just a bunch of racist hicks who don't know what's good for them, and who actually cost the federal government more money than they pay in?  Gawd, if I have to hear such a refrain one more time....  So here's my question, libs:  why on earth would you want to be associated with such people?  Why on earth would you want such people in your country if you could be rid of them?  If you're right, it seems to me that secession would be a win-win for you:  your nation would have more money to spend on social programs for your own people (since it wouldn't be sending the money to those evil red states), and you'd be rid of all these animals you can't even dare to think of as human.

So why is secession so offensive to you?  We both know the answer.  One of the defining attributes of liberalism is that liberals think they're better than others, and therefore liberals delight in telling others what to do.  Liberals actually like being able to compel conservatives to do what those conservatives don't like or don't want to do.  In so-called "fair share" states like California, liberals enjoy the ability to require me to pay a union even though I want nothing to do with that union.

In other words, liberals are bullies.  Compulsion is all they know.

Ah, but Darren, you're such a patriot.  How can you even think about breaking up this great country?  And the answer is simple:  the oaths I've taken in my life have always been to the Constitution, not to the real estate.  Anyone who reads this blog knows that I'm enough of a conservative, and enough of an originalist, that I believe we as a nation have strayed too far from the Constitution even as we pay mere lip service to living under its wisdom.  I take to heart these words from the Declaration of Independence (emphasis is mine):

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Let's be honest. The only reason secession hasn't ever successfully occurred is because of the old saw "might makes right". The Confederate states were physically subdued and them compelled, by force of arms, to rejoin the union. And it was Republican administrations that compelled the Democratic Confederate states to do so.

So right now I, like so many others, seem more disposed to suffer the sufferable evils that our federal government imposes upon us; and while we tolerate them, let's not forget that we suffer under them and that they truly are evils.   My fervent hope is that this current "train of abuses" does not progress so far as to reduce us to "absolute Despotism", but I state outright that we're certainly on that road.

And if that happens, if the Tree of Liberty has to be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants, well, liberty is worth it.  Since the liberals like Rousseau so much, let them heed his words in addition to Jefferson's:

"I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery." - Rousseau, Social Contract

Update, 12/6/12:  A little more history, and perspective, on the subject.