Monday, October 12, 2009

Secession Movements

You may think that groups which recommend secession from the U.S.A. are various forms of nuthatches;
And you would be correct in most cases, particularly those which wish to refight the Civil War.
But some supporters of secession movements are quite serious in their desire for less central control of their lives;
And see separation from their parent country, U.S.A. or Canada, as the only rational means to achieve freedom.

The Second Vermont Republic has a firm intellectual footing that has given rise to expanded media coverage.
The Texas Nationalist Movement has history on its side as well as a well-organized website and membership drive.
The Alaska Independence Party wants to be able to vote on its status, with a separate and independent nation one of four choices.
Hawai'i Constitutional Conventions are held periodically to seek national sovereignty for native Hawaiians.

The League of the South appears to be a revised confederacy, with chapters in every state of the former nation.
Their program is gentle and professedly free of racism, but determinedly Christian and Anglo-Saxon in tone.
California has two obsolete websites devoted to independence; surprising considering the turmoil in governance of the state.
A piece just recently appeared in The Guardian (U.K.) describing California as the first failed U.S. state.

The titles Novacadia and Cascadia are used by nascent efforts to join U.S. states and Canadian provinces on each coast
In the formation of independent countries, sharing resources and government structures.
Neither is more than an idea at present; other Canadian movements including Parti Quebecois, seem to be moribund.
Patriots for Liberty in Massachusets and Republic of New Hampshire are go it alone websites, with no supporting organization.

So you have to say that balkanization is not yet considered a viable option by the citizens of the U.S. or Canada.
And would doubtless gain little traction unless grass roots protests like the tea parties grow up to become non-violent revolutions.
Causing nervous politicians to have to decide whether to try to head off or lead the body politic in the way it wants to go.
Paul Starobin's article, Imaging Breaking Up, in the Wall Street Journal, of June 13, 2009, is the genesis of such consideration.